My Soul to Keep
by Accidental-Ducky
Summary: "So it's settled, you guys will shoot the undead bastard that ruined my tater tots, then you'll bring me my payment, and I'll bring Vanessa back to life." Sitting there, surrounded by the confident people of her new group, Riley was incredibly pleased with the plan. But nothing ever goes to plan when Vanessa Ives is concerned. Catriona/OC
1. The Early Death of Tater Tots

**Excerpt From** _ **The Official Reaper Rulebook**_ **:  
1\. No bringing souls back without an appropriate substitute**.

Riley had hoped for a lot of things after her boss transferred her to Victorian London, one of the most hoped for being that she would be allowed to go back to Florida once the poisonous fog was lifted, but her hopes were dashed when she noticed that her hourglass was still completely full with only a few grains trickling to the bottom. She was officially stuck until the hourglass was empty and her duties relinquished to another.

 _Grim, you massive douchebag._

It was bad enough that she'd had to deal with Ronald until the souls had been transferred, but now she had to stay here for at least a year and wear a stupid corset if she had to be visible in public. It sucked, to say the least.

"I can't even watch Game of Thrones here," she whines loudly, grabbing a bag of tater tots out of the cold storage. _At least we're allowed to modify certain things for comfort._ The outside of her new house blended in with the others, but the inside was completely modern apart from not having cable or WiFi. She _really_ missed her cable and WiFi, though.

Blowing a lock of her black hair off her face, she focuses on cutting the bag open and dumping the tots into the boiling grease.

"Shit better stay quiet," Riley grumbles, covering the fryer with a lid," I ain't going to be happy if we have another one of those creepy fog situations." The last one had wiped out several thousand people, making her snap from one dying person to the next to catch their soul before something else could. Being a Reaper has kept her busy since she graduated from the Academy, hopping from place to place to ferry the souls to the Underworld to be weighed.

Not wanting to hover over her breakfast, she moves further into the house to her bedroom. It was as messy as it usually was, clothes strewn over the floors and makeup spread out across the top of her dresser; her bed was unmade with the bright yellow comforter only half on it, and her small collection of beanies were hanging from the small chandelier. In fact, her throwing knives were the only things neatly packed away in their case beneath her pillow. She's always been one of the messier Reapers, but she didn't have a roommate to complain about it anymore.

Riley grabs a tank top off the ground, sniffing it before shrugging and tossing it on her bed before finding a pair of ripped jeans and socks to join it. Her bedroom was in the back with no windows, so she didn't hesitate to strip right there and pull on the fresh clothes before running her fingers through her hair and pulling on a maroon beanie.

It was cold in London and she was grateful that the beanie at least kept the pointed tips of her ears covered. Once that was finished, she pulled on the white and brown cowgirl boots that had a snow camo pattern on the sides, then slides her glasses in place. She was almost blind without them and knew it was a risk to cook when not wearing them, but they were just an annoyance she waited until the last minute to put on every morning.

She was observing herself in her mirror when she heard a knock echoing through the house, distracting her from the fact that she still had traces of chalk on her fingers. It wasn't often that someone knocked on her door and she wasn't sure whether to be curious or cautious. Other supernatural beings would sense her, she knew that, but it could also be one of the elders that were obsessed with the proper way to call on someone.

After a second, Riley grabs the black necklace off her dresser and starts back down the hall towards the front of the house, locking the necklace in place so she could at least have that comfort. It was her only real weapon that always worked, made of cold metal that had been burnt in Grim's forge.

The front door of her home was made of heavy wood, enchanted to repel humans and keep intruders from breaking in. In the direct center, right below the protection rune recently drawn in chalk, was the peephole, allowing her to gaze out at the person interrupting her quiet time. There were three people, all men in nice enough clothing with grim sets to their mouths and grief in their eyes. Two were humans, one an old man going gray and the other closer to his early thirties, but the other with them was a werewolf.

The humans would be easy for her to handle, they were fragile things, but the werewolf had tried to killed some of her kind before. He hadn't known it, hadn't been in control of himself, but he'd done the task all the same. Still, they were here for a reason and waiting for food to get done was boring, so she opened the door just enough for her to stand in the gap.

"What do you want," she asks bluntly, dark eyes flicking over their faces.

"To make a deal," the oldest of the trio states. His green eyes were bright with emotion, easily read by the Reaper as sadness and a burning anger. She cocks up a brow and studies this human closer, able to hear his teeth grinding together as he awaits her response.

"Why would two humans and a werewolf want to make a deal?"

"How—" She cuts the wolf off with only a look, the broad-shouldered man swallowing hard as he reads all the hostility in her gaze.

"The supernatural recognize each other." She takes half a step outside, leaning forward and sniffing the air. "Werewolves always smell like musk." The man turns his head and sniffs himself, looking offended at her statement. "My God, you really are new to all of this." With a sigh, she holds out an arm. "Take a whiff, cowboy." He hesitates a second before bringing her wrist closer to his nose and taking a few quick sniffs.

"What is that?"

"Reapers always smell like flowers, a sign of death." She takes her arm back and walks into the house, leaving the door open. "Y'all coming inside or not?"

With only a moment of hesitation, the trio follow her into the sitting room, taking in the intricately embroidered rug and the modern furniture in shades of white and dark brown. It was a larger room, but scarcely decorated to keep packing a simple chore. There was only a couple of personal touches and those were the two photographs on the mantle—one of herself and her little brother after she graduated and the other of a dark-skinned Ranger with corkscrew curls. The Ranger may have been a Took, notorious for their strangeness, but Jas was always nice to Riley.

"We know what you are," the shortest of the three men states, fidgeting slightly with the hem of his coat. He was a skinny little thing, pale with dark circles under his eyes. _Insomniac with paranoid tendencies, not of the best mind right now_. He was too thin and she would invite him to eat with her if she wasn't possessive of her food.

"And what's that?"

"A creature that feeds off death and grief." She quirks up a brow at that, giving him a look that practically screamed _judging you_.

"Are you the pot in this or are you a kettle, Doc? Last I heard, you were making delightfully sinister experiments on humans that forced the shattered remnants of their souls back into their ruined corpse. All I do is ferry their souls to the underworld where they are judged and sent to wherever their faith allows." The other two look at their companion uneasily, like they had just realized they were standing next to a monster.

"And if we wanted to know of a singular soul that was collected just a few days ago?" Riley tilts her head back with a frustrated groan, mentally cursing her boss for even creating a rule that would allow dumb questions like this to be possible. "Could you bring it back without shattering it?"

"Unfortunately."

"And would the person remain the same as they were or would the process change them?"

"Of course it changes them, you'd be a fool to think otherwise." The oldest stares straight ahead of him, jaw clenched as he fought back a wave of tears. He was handsome for an older man, his short hair and beard more gray than brown, there were bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, and his mouth was twitching as though he were fighting not to yell.

"Would they…. Would they remember their life?" Three sets of eyes land on her, filled with a desperate hope that made her heart ache from the intensity. They were so desperate to get their loved one back, but they were smart enough to know that what comes back may not be the person they remember.

"They'd remember everything from the moment they were born, every second of every day, and it will be hard on them until they learn to control it. They will remember what death is like and the process of rebirth, but they will know your faces and they will retain their quirks. Will they be exactly the same person? No, that could never happen, but they will still be the one you all love."

"Her name is Vanessa Ives," the oldest says with a tremor in his voice," thirty-six—"

"I don't need to know all of that," Riley interrupts with a wave of her hand, seating herself on the arm of the couch. "Go to her home and search her bedroom for a neatly folded square of paper that should be on her writing desk, it'll have her identification number written on it. Bring me that and I can bring her back to you."

"Thank you," the wolf breathes, a small smile turning the corners of his mouth upwards.

"Not so fast, cowboy, I need payment before I bring anybody back from death."

"Anything," the old man says hurriedly," I've got the funds."

"Actually, I'd rather have a puppy." Riley shrugs at their incredulous looks, not caring one whit what the humans would think of that. "And I need a soul to replace Vanessa's, doesn't matter if it's a good one or bad one as long as it can be a substitute." The three share a few looks, a silent conversation happening, and then they all nod before facing her again.

"How about the soul of Dracula?"

"That'll work." She stands and shoos them out of her sitting room, almost shoving them out the front door.

"We live at number eight Grandage Place if you ever need shelter."

"Whatever, just have fun killing Dracula. Fair warning, he's a massive asshole!" With that, she slams the door closed and walks back to the kitchen, carefully transferring her crispy tots to a frying pan to brown them a little.

It was quiet for another few minutes, just the sound of grease popping as she cooked. She loved the quiet that usually went with her job, a serenity of just observing the humans and animals around her until it was time to collect their souls and take it to be weighed by Anubis. The jackal god was pretty cool as gods go, always up for free beer and watching High School Musical.

She was just about to dump her food into a bowl when another knock sounded, Riley letting out a noise of frustration before stomping back to the door and yanking it open. Instead of the trio from earlier like she'd expected, there was a man on the other side that was entirely too familiar for her liking.

He had a light brown complexion, he was made up of lean muscles, and dressed in a three-piece suit with a heavy gray jacket over it; his dark hair was carefully styled and his beard neatly trimmed, his brown eyes were sunken slightly, crow's feet hinting at his true age.

Riley didn't hesitate, bringing the pan up and swinging it as hard as she could, the cast iron hitting the man's head with a sickening crunch. He stumbled to the side, not having been prepared for the attack, and it allows Riley the chance to start running for her life. She didn't mind that she was completely visible to the human eye or that she was elbowing past a whole lot of them to get away, she only cared about her own survival.

She didn't stop sprinting until she reached a large block of stately homes, pushing open the door to number eight and barging right in, surprising all of the people gathered in the sitting room. Riley took a moment to catch her breath before straightening up and leveling an accusatory glare at the three people who had visited her. What other reason would a vampire have for coming to her door other than being led there by a specific scent of two desperate humans and their pet werewolf?

"I just wanted to eat my tater tots," she shouts at them," not hit Dracula in the face with a frying pan!"


	2. Dracula's Evening Tea

**Excerpt From** _ **The Official Reaper Rulebook**_ **:  
11\. Deals are allowed to be made if payment is sufficient**.

After Riley had her breath back and found a seat on the couch, she was able to tell everyone what had happened without screaming, though the accusatory tone remained. Her pale cheeks were flushed from the cold and her anger, but she was slowly beginning to calm down as the oldest man explained to her why Dracula had showed up.

"So the chick you want brought back from the dead is this guy's girlfriend," she says after a moment, wrapping a lock of hair around one of her slender fingers," and the wolf shot her so that the fog would dissipate, but now he feels bad. Did I get it all right?"

"For the most part," the older man, Malcolm Murray, confirms. "She'd been fighting him and his brother all her life, but she must have been so tired to give in like that." Riley gives a little nod, biting at her lip. If she brought Vanessa back to life, would it trigger the fog again or would she be reset as mostly human? Riley couldn't be sure, but she really wished Grim was around to give her some pointers.

"You guys must live in a soap opera or somethin'." Heaving a sigh, she stands and starts to pace the length of the room. "Alright, so we'll have to kill Dracula before I bring Vanessa back to make sure he doesn't manipulate her again."

"That won't be easy," a new person states, a woman by the sound of it. Riley looks over her shoulder and spots the human standing in the doorway of the parlor, all long limbs and pale skin with short hair that fell just below her chin in loose curls. The woman was beautiful, her features reminding Riley of the Fair Folk she had seen when she was a child, graceful and fluid in everything they did. "You have to get close to him in order to kill him and he has to be in his human form."

"Are you the expert on vampires around here?"

"Mm, I'm an expert on all things dead." With a grin, the woman crosses the room and sticks out her hand for Riley to shake, the Reaper not even hesitating to take it. The human was warm and her grip was sure, both things Riley loved at the moment. "I'm Catriona Hartdegen."

"Riley Liu," Riley replies with a smile of her own. The second Catriona's fingers fully closed around Riley's hand, there was a sharp, snapping shock that shot through her entire body and made her jerk her hand back. It had never happened before and going off the confounded expression on Catriona's face, it had never happened to her before either. "What the actual fuck was that?"

"Static shock?"

"I've never had a static shock make my fingers go numb." Riley wiggled her fingers for emphasis, the tips of them turning a dark red as though they'd been burned. Catriona's fingers have done the same, a deep angry red that was tender to the touch, and both women kept their fingers slightly away from their bodies to avoid any accidental pain.

"How strange," Frankenstein murmurs, stepping closer to observe without touching. "And that's never happened to you before, Miss Liu?" She gives him a dry look and he shrugs his thin shoulders. "I wouldn't be a scientist if I didn't ask questions."

"Just take my word on it, then." She blows on her fingers and seats herself on the floor beside the fireplace, frowning as the pain slowly starts to abate. "Alright, that particular bit of weirdness aside, let's come up with a plan to gank a vampire." She closes her eyes for a moment and shakes her head. "I can't believe I just had to say that."

"If it's any consolation, I never thought I'd have to ask someone that wasn't God to bring a loved one back to life," the wolf offers. His name was Ethan Chandler, an American with a thick accent and the bearing of someone who was used to fighting. "So, does anyone have any ideas?"

"Bullet to the heart," Malcolm says immediately, his expression hard and grief-filled. This Vanessa Ives was dear to his heart, though Riley doubts he's the type to admit it out loud.

"I could get behind that idea."

"Yes," Riley agrees with a nod, looking up at the group assembled in the room," a bullet would do nicely. We wouldn't have to be unreasonably close and it's incredibly effective against pretty much anything."

"I'll do it, I'm the best shot here." Malcolm looked a bit miffed, but didn't comment on Ethan's statement.

"So it's settled, you guys will shoot the undead bastard that ruined my tater tots, then you'll bring me my payment, and I'll bring Vanessa back to life." Sitting there, surrounded by the confident people of her new group, Riley was incredibly pleased with the plan. Surely everything would run smoothly from here on out?

But nothing ever goes to plan when Vanessa Ives is concerned.

* * *

Riley pushed the door to her house closed behind her, resting back against it for a moment. The only evidence of Dracula's unexpected arrival was the spilled tots on her front porch, but she would clean that mess up after she had a nice, long soak in the tub.

She was tired, her fingers still hurt, and she was _starving_.

With a slight wince, she pushes away from the door and heads to the back of the house, stopping in her room just long enough to grab a clean set of clothes that weren't sporting grease stains, and then moves to the bathroom down the hall. It wasn't very large, the floor made up of sparkling white tiles, the walls dark wood, a clawfoot tub set against the right wall with a small table beside it holding all of Riley's bath products. Across the room from the door was a short counter with a sink set into it and a mirror above it; on the counter were various face washes, ponytail holders, and a radio. On the left wall, there was a simple shelf holding the fluffy, yellow towels and washrags with a laundry basket below it.

Riley sets her clothes and glasses on the counter and flips on the radio, nodding along to a classic rock song as she takes off her dirty clothes and throws them in the hamper. After that, she sets the water to running and climbs into the tub, resting her arms along the sides and closing her eyes.

" _Seasons don't fear the reaper_ ," Riley sings along quietly," _nor do the wind, the sun or the rain. We can be like they are. Come on, baby, don't fear the reaper_ …." She trails off as she slides underneath the water, the need to breathe not afflicting her. Technically, she was already dead and so had no need to abide by its rules, so she often went diving when she was stationed in Australia. The only scary thing about that place was the amount of animals trying to murder people.

She surfaces again after a moment, slicking her long hair back and reaching blindly for the bottle of shampoo. It's not until someone hands it to her that she realizes her house wasn't as empty as she had assumed. Instincts developed over the centuries had her leaping out of the tub and latching onto her necklace without a second's thought, facing down her opponent in her birthday suit.

"Always so overdramatic," the intruder drawls, keeping his gaze solely on her face. "I thought you Death Devils were supposed to be calm and collected all the time."

"Don't call me that," she snaps back at him without lowering the necklace. He knew what she could do with it and stayed a good six feet away at all times, carefully out of reach. "How the hell did you get in my house?" The man clasps his hands behind his back, looking around at the small room without a care.

"I have need of your services."

"Ain't happening."

"All you Death Devils are the same, so impatient sometimes."

"You call me that about one more time and I'll rip the fangs outta your head, Drac." He stares at her for a moment, dark eyes narrowed slightly as if he had a hard time believing she actually knew who he was. "It's been awhile since we last met, I think it was right before you corrupted Judas Iscariot." He gives a slight shrug, barely perceived, and even manages an arrogant smirk.

"It's good to see you again, Lái lì." Riley gives a slight wince at the Chinese pronunciation of her name, not having heard it in at least a decade since her father passed into retirement in the Afterworld. "Would you like to get dressed before we continue our negotiations?" Riley's left eye twitches, hating the way he seemed so comfortable in her home. "I'll put some tea on while I wait." And just like that, he walked out of the bathroom without a glance back.

Grumbling under her breath, Riley pulls on fresh underwear and a pair of loose jeans, a black top with bell sleeves, and her cowgirl boots before moving into her bedroom. She quickly dries and braids her hair, pulling on a simple cowgirl hat that kept anyone from seeing how messy her hair actually is, and an assortment of rings.

"The elders and I are having a _long_ conversation about stronger runes when I get back," Riley growls, taking another moment to apply a light coat of pale lipstick. With that finished, she made her way to the kitchen, Count freaking Dracula pouring himself a cup of tea like he had any right to it.

"Would you like some sugar," the vampire asks without looking up, his sharp hearing probably picking up her footsteps before she even left her room. That had always bugged her, wishing her own hearing were so great. _If it was, then I certainly wouldn't be playing host to this ass_. She snatches her cup out of the vampire's hand and slouches in a kitchen chair, looking up at him with a stare that could freeze water.

"This had better be good, Drac."

 **According a website, Riley is translated to Lái lì in Chinese.**


	3. Roofied Reapers

**Excerpt From** _ **The Official Reaper Rulebook:  
**_ **14\. An ID number must be left behind after the soul is collected. See: Rule 20 for any questions**.

Riley had expected tea with a vampire to be awkward, but she'd never imagined that the bastard would've _drugged_ her! She woke slowly, her head pounding as a loud, ringing noise reached her. It sounded like someone was ringing the bells of a chapel and she would've bet everything she owned that it was precisely what was happening, but then she opened her eyes and realized that it was actually the sound of metal against fine porcelain.

Her senses were heightened as her body fought off the drug, her hearing too amplified and her nose picking up traces of rusted iron—no, not iron, _blood_. Someone had bled out recently and the scent of it still hung heavily in the air, polluting it and making Riley's stomach churn. But the scent was too strong, too close, and her head was aching so horribly without a cause— Swallowing thickly, she manages to get one hand pressed to the left side of her head and it's covered in blue when she pulls it back.

That bastard had cracked her head on something and he hadn't even bothered to bandage it! Oh, she was going to kill him for this.

Once the room stops spinning every time she moved, Riley was able to sit up and take stock of her surroundings. It was a huge room, the walls made of sturdy metal and the floor concrete, the only furnishings being the large metal hook hanging from the ceiling and the settee she was laid out on. There were no windows, so she couldn't be sure of how long she was out, and the only door was all the way across the room.

 _Can I even make it that far without falling?_

As if in response, her head gives another nasty throb and she clutches at it despite the blood that immediately soaked her hand and shirt. Still, she was nothing if not determined, so she levered herself upwards onto her feet. She was steady for a moment and she thought she would be able to make it after all, but her legs gave out before she managed to complete her first step towards freedom. The ground beneath her was hard and unforgiving as she hits it, the delicate skin of her palms opening in shallow scratches when she tried to break her fall.

"Fuck me," she whimpers, rolling onto her side with a wince. The ache in her head seemed to be spreading to the rest of her body, a bone-deep pain that made her want to curl up in a ball for a dozen or so years. It was bad enough that she'd been drugged, but this was just plain embarrassing. Her vision blurs as she gets to her hands and knees, but she puts that down to her lack of glasses as she continues to crawl towards the door.

This position was a lot easier to maintain, the dizziness not so bad as it had been the longer she forced herself to stay awake. In just three minutes, she made it across the room and was able to rise up just enough to grab the handle of the door and turn it. Except that it didn't want to turn, downright refused to turn under her hand, and she cursed the day humans invented locks.

She takes a few deep breaths, urging her head to stop throbbing, and then stands to get a better grip on the handle. Riley has to lean heavily against the wall, a light sheen of sweat breaking out on her forehead as she focused all of her strength on forcing the stupid door to open. She knew she could get it opened eventually, but she just felt so sick. Her stomach was cramping, her hands were growing sweaty, and she could barely make out the hand in front of her face; it was a horrible experience and she wouldn't suggest anyone allow Dracula to prepare their tea.

 _Vampires are such an untrustworthy lot_.

After her hand slides off the knob for the fourth consecutive time, Riley lets out a pathetic whine and leans her back against the sturdy wood. Unfortunately for her, that's when the stupid thing decides to open, sending her back to the floor without any warning. She manages a surprised shout before she hit the ground again, the back of her head cracking when it meets the cement.

Above her with his head tilted to the side in curious amusement, Dracula was fighting not to laugh. Oh yeah, she was going to introduce her foot to his ass when she could stand without seeing double. Swallowing back bile, Riley raises one shaky hand and points at him, her eyes narrowing. "You're a dick."

And then she was out like a light.

The next time she woke up was decidedly more pleasant, her symptoms mostly gone and her senses back to normal. She sits up gingerly, looking around to see that she was in a room much like the one she'd left behind, all empty space aside from a metal staircase leading to an upper landing, and two massive hooks dangling from the ceiling by thick chains. She also realized he hadn't moved her at all from where she'd fallen.

Grunting, she gets to her feet and brushes off the butt of her jeans before making for the stairs. The rest of the room was empty, but she could hear a faint scurrying upstairs that suggested she wasn't alone. Was Dracula watching her up there? One look from the ground floor proved she was wrong about that, not spotting anyone leaning over the metal railing to gawk at her. _Well, at least I have that going for me_.

She takes the stairs slowly, not chancing her earlier dizziness coming back and disorienting her while she was climbing. As another precaution, she holds tightly to the rail on her right in case she does start to fall. She doubted it would actually support her considering how much it groaned beneath her hand, but she tried to push that thought out of her head.

She had a goal in mind, to make it up these stairs, and she was going to complete it if it was the last thing she did, dammit!

It took a little longer than usual, but she finally made it and realized this upper landing had more furniture than her own living room at home. There were couches and armchairs all crammed together on top of plush rugs, a bed tucked neatly in the far corner; none were occupied, but she spotted one of her tea cups sitting on a small table beside one of the chairs. She turns to take in the other side of the landing, spotting a simple, velvet-covered settee and nothing else

No people were up here to make any noise, but she knew what she'd heard. Riley moves closer to the right where most of the furniture was set, putting a hand against the seat of the armchair next to the table and finding it still warm. Someone was definitely here a moment ago, but where had they gone? It wasn't Dracula, he wouldn't have made any noise, so who the hell was it?

With her lips pursed together, she moves over to the iron bannister and peers below at the floor she had just left behind. There was no one down there either, no traces of habitation other than the dried blood where Riley had fallen earlier. Perhaps she was hallucinating from the blood loss after all. As she went to move away and go back downstairs, she heard another sound; creaking, old metal, rapid breathing.

And Riley looked up.


	4. Explosive Tempers

**Excerpt From** _ **The Official Reaper Rulebook:**_  
 **20\. ID numbers are required for any and all soul exchanges; ID number can be found on neatly folded paper left behind in the soul's old bedroom**.

The guy hanging above Riley was a real asshole and not just because he'd slipped and fallen on top of her. No, she could handle that, the guy was an asshole because he'd tried to _bite her goddamn neck_. He'd also been punched in the nose for his trouble, so there was that. With a grunt, she pushes the man off of her and stands up in order to have the high ground.

The man sprawled out on the floor was scrawny and deathly pale, little blue veins surrounding narrowed eyes, and blond hair sticking up all over his head. His suit would have been considered nice once, but now it looked like something you'd find at the bottom of a bargain bin. He seemed like your average tramp apart from three things: he had just been on the ceiling, he had _fangs_ , and he smelled like decaying flesh.

"What the hell, man," she shouts down at him, feeling fresh blood beginning to soak into her ruined shirt. "You can't just go around biting people!" The man just hisses at her, moving to crouch on the balls of his feet like he was readying to pounce. She didn't give him the chance, kicking him square in the face hard enough to make him see stars. The vampire stayed down this time, blood flowing from his nose in a steady stream, turning the pale skin of his cheek crimson.

Riley frowns, looking around for anything that could be used as a weapon and finding nothing. It was like the place had been carefully swept before she was brought there to ensure she would have no real way of defending herself. Gasping, she reaches up to her throat, realizing for the first time that she wasn't wearing her necklace.

"Ah, man, Grim's gonna kill me for this." Her shoulders slumped as she collapsed in one of the armchairs. Her life seems to have gone downhill in a matter of hours since she met those stupid humans and that even stupider werewolf. It was one thing to take a job, but it was something else entirely for that job to get her attacked, drugged, and attacked again! In fact, this was complete and utter _bullshit_.

As if to add to her ever-growing list of problems, her stomach growled loudly and she remembered that she hadn't eaten yet. And to think, the most exciting part of her day was supposed to have been cooking tater tots without her glasses on and now she's been kidnaped by freaking Chocula. It couldn't be just a coincidence, the Fates had to have planned this or the stars were in position to just demolish her day. It wasn't fair either way and she was planning on raising hell when she got out of here.

Until then, she was going to sit here and try to figure out why the hell Dracula had drugged her in the first place if all he was going to do was leave her here. The fact that he left her with only a half-starved goon to keep watch over her was really insulting. Honestly, she was strong enough to take down a guy that's not even a full vampire yet and Dracula should know that much by now.

Still, she was hungry and she doubted there was any real food in this place. With that thought in mind, she stands again and grabs the stolen tea cup before starting back down the stairs to the main floor. It was slow going, but she made it all the way down the stairs without incident, she was proud to report.

The only other door in the warehouse—because it couldn't be anything else—was directly across from the stairs and she crossed the room as quickly as she was able, yanking and pulling savagely to make the door open with no real results. "Mother," she grunts, slamming her shoulder against the metal," fucking…" Another hard slam against the door. "... _Vampires_ _!"_ The stupid door wasn't moving despite how rusted it appeared and she had no damn idea why.

"The master won't let you leave so easily." The voice was a bit high for a man, coming from behind her, and it sounded hoarse from disuse. Riley turns to eye the vampire, far too pale for even his kind, and she feels a bit of sympathy blooming for him in her chest. He hadn't chosen this life, none of Dracula's minions did, but they were bound to him all the same after the first bite.

"And why is that?" She leans back against the door, watching him carefully as the blond twitches in pain. "What use does your master have with me?"

"You will bring back his Queen." A manic smile had the vampire's lips turning upward, the bottom one cracking open to allow a small bit of blood to spill down his chin. "You will bring back Mother." Riley snorts, wanting so badly to close her eyes and sleep, but knowing this creature would only try to drain her dry again.

"That's what I figured." Knowing she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, she slid down to the floor with her legs spread out in front of her. "So, do you have a name or should I just refer to you as the asshole that wanted to eat me?" The vampire's head tilts to the side, his curiosity shining out past the blood and grime. "I'm Riley Liu."

"Renfield," he mutters, then repeats it a second time with a giggle. "Renfield, yes, I am. And you are the Reaper the master's decided to use."

"You're observant," she returns dryly. Renfield seats himself across from her and mimics her position, though he was unable to stay still; twitching fingers, nervous tic in his jaw, his tongue flicking out occasionally to wet his chapped lips. "How long has it been since you last fed?"

"A week, I've not earned a meal. Master told me so, he told me that I've been bad and deserve to starve." He nods along as he speaks, accepting Dracula's words as gospel. Judas had as well, though he came to his senses and committed suicide, thoroughly screwing up Dracula's plans for several of the Christians.

Riley leans her head back, wincing when it comes in contact with the cold metal. Her head still ached from where it'd hit the floor, but she knew that it would already be healed and the pains were just an aftereffect. Reapers healed amazingly well, one of the perks of her race.

Out of habit, her hand moves to where her necklace should be, feeling only smooth flesh. She silently cursed herself, wondering if it had been left behind or if Dracula has snagged it.

"You're missing something, a necklace." She looks to the vampire again, noting the way his eyes had glazed over. He was far away and yet here at the same time, like he was seeing something that Riley couldn't. "An ugly thing, burned black as pitch and so cold in his hand, like ice. Yes, it is, like so much melting snow against a burning palm." She scoots over to Renfield, tilting his head down so she can look into his eyes.

"What else do you see," she whispers, barely more than a sigh so she didn't break the trance. She'd read about this, the way that vampires' psychic link with their masters heightened the closer they came to the change being completed. In just two days, Renfield would be a full vampire, able to make more of his kind.

"Stalls, deserted for quite some time, and…." He licks his lips nervously, shaking his head a little like he was fighting. "I can smell smoke, burning too hot and too close. Ugh, the smell hurts my nose." He pulls out of her grasp and rubs his nose until the tip of it is bright red, his eyes watering. The trance was broken so easily that Riley wondered if he was as close to turning as she'd guessed.

"Is your master close to us?" Renfield nods, that frenzied smile making a reappearance as he glanced at something behind Riley. She turns as the door opens under Dracula's hand, the tall man stepping inside in a swirl of snowflakes and cold air. He had a bundle of something under his arm, something colorful from what she was able to tell without her glasses.

"I'm glad you're awake," Dracula says softly, closing the door and walking over to her. His brown eyes move from the top of her head to her boots and back up again, looking unimpressed with everything he saw. Granted, most of the mess was his own fault, so he shouldn't be judging. "I've brought you something to change into." He drops the bundle in her lap, moving to the stairs with Renfield shuffling behind him.

"Thanks a bunch," Riley snaps, getting to her feet and going back to the room she'd woken up in before. The bundle turns out to be one of her dresses, the top of it cream-colored and the skirt a dark blue with a floral print; her glasses were among the new clothes, but her necklace was still missing. If what Renfield had said earlier was true, then Dracula had it and the thought just made her stomachache worsen.

She dresses quickly before walking back out into the main room, dirty clothes left behind to be burned or whatever the vampire had planned. She didn't care much about her clothes, they were easily replaced and usually depended on which culture she was surrounded by at the time. London meant casual clothes when she wasn't seen, but corsets and petticoats to avoid suspicion when she went out into the world.

Dracula was seated in an armchair when she found him upstairs, completely relaxed with his minion seated beside him on the floor, spindly legs drawn up to his chest. Renfield and Dracula were little alike apart from the disease raging in their veins, two sides of very different coins. _Drac would be a quarter and Renfield seems more like a shiny penny_.

"Have a seat, Miss Liu," he murmurs, gesturing to the chair he'd moved to the other side of the table, a boundary between vampires and Reapers.

"And if I choose to stand?" He doesn't say anything, stretching out one slender, well-muscled arm and pointing to the seat. They held a staring contest, neither moving or completely relaxing for a good two minutes before Riley heaved a sigh and allowed herself to drop into the chair. "You know, I've been doing some thinking since I woke up the second time."

"Oh yes?"

"Yeah, I got to wondering why someone as strong as you are in _literally_ everything would have to drug me in order to get me here. Of course, the next thing that dawned on me was that I'd been bitten sometime during my weakened state, meaning you'd fed from me." The gash in her head had been a cut, almost surgical in its perfection. Riley sighs, leaning back in the chair and crossing one leg over the other. "Why would the master vampire need to feed on someone who represents death, whose blood may or may not be poisonous?"

"Why do you think I was the one who fed from you?"

"Because Renfield would be dead by now if it was him." Dracula's eyes narrow just the slightest bit, but it was a reaction all the same. "You've been in some sort of fight that's drained you, it drained you so much that you couldn't get in my head to force me to come with you. My blood to you is like chicken noodle soup to humans."

"It doesn't matter—"

"It does, though. Why do you want Vanessa Ives raised from the dead?" His lips press together, thin white lines against tanned flesh. He looked like he was struggling with something, arguing with himself in the comfort of his mind. "What's so special about a dead human that you're willing to risk Grim's wrath?"

"She's my wife," he shouts, standing up so quickly that his chair slammed against the furniture behind it. "She is my Queen, the Mother of Evil! She will rule by my side and we will conquer this earth like Father rules Heaven!" There was a moment of tense silence, the only sounds being the vampire's labored breathing as he glowers at the Reaper. Then, his voice hoarse," Because I am better than _all_ of you and she belongs to me."

Another silence descended, Riley watching as the vampire composed himself; dark hair smoothed back, lint brushed off his suit jacket, and his expression neutral. He slowly regained control on his temper, chest rising and falling until his breathing evened out. It wasn't until he was seated again that Riley bothered to speak at all.

"Okay, I get that you're King of the Vampires and all, but you need to chill."


	5. A Bloody Escape

**Excerpt From** _ **The Official Reaper Rulebook**_ **:  
2\. Never allow your scythe to fall into the hands of supernatural beings other than yourself or an elder.**

It was amazing what a Reaper's blood could do in someone else's body, rushing through their veins like fire and making their heart pump too fast. It made them feel a lot of different things at once; ecstasy, joy, pain, and so much more. It caused a flush in their cheeks and blood to well in their mouths, dark blue like the sky just before darkness.

A Reaper's blood in someone else's body meant death.

Dracula stood over her as composed as he always was, hands clasped behind his back and his gaze focused on the wall just over her left ear. The blood was coming up again, trapped behind sharp teeth and dark pink lips, and he was struggling not to show any weakness in front of the Reaper responsible. He felt sicker than he ever had before, his stomach churning as more warm blood crawled up his throat.

Riley knew what was happening, had seen it before with lesser creatures that had tried to feed from her, and she knew what would come next with him fighting this hard. Hell, she could practically time every reaction to her blood he was experiencing! Because of that, she was able to stand up and move out of the way seconds before he collapsed and his head landed where her feet had been.

"And that's why you shouldn't drink blood, children," she announces, though no one was around to hear her. Renfield had been sent away a few minutes ago to find Drac someone to munch on, so it was only the two of them in the entire warehouse. Knowing the vampire would be unconscious for a good hour, she kneels beside him and starts going through his pockets until she felt cold metal. "Ha, there you are, beautiful!"

She pulls her necklace out and grins at it proudly, kissing it before chaining it around her throat. It felt nice to have it there again, the familiar weight more than comforting against her breastbone. Confident, Riley rises from her crouch and takes the stairs two at a time as she descends to the first floor, sprinting across the room to the door.

It opens easily this time, only a faint squeak of rusted hinges suggesting it didn't want to open yet. She steps outside, taking in the blanket of white and the flakes still falling from the sky; they were cold against her bare arms and legs, but anything was welcome compared to the stifling heat inside. The neighborhood was completely abandoned, old stalls collapsed into rotting piles of wood while the warehouses were the only things left standing.

It was nowhere she'd been before, but that didn't mean she could just stand there and wait for a rescue party to find her. She wasn't the damsel in distress type and she certainly wasn't the type to do nothing, so she started walking along the half-buried path on her left with a vague plan in mind. She had to get back to her house to gather her supplies so she could perform the Summoning that would bring Vanessa's soul back from wherever it had been delivered, and then she would go back to Malcolm's house for the whole safety in numbers thing.

"Why couldn't this be an easy job," she grumbles, hugging herself for warmth as she trudged through the ankle-deep snow. "Better yet, why couldn't it be Ronald that has to deal with this mess?"

Ronald Salvatore was a fairly young Reaper compared to Riley, lacking discipline and the common sense to know when to shut his mouth. He'd graduated from the Academy three years ago, top of his class, and yet Grim still didn't trust him to take care of things on his own. His fair hair and bright blue eyes gave him that classic golden boy look, helped by his great bone structure and his pouting lips. The worst part of it all is how nice he is, making her seem like that bad guy for not liking him.

She shakes her head, grumbling as she's forced to move around a wheelbarrow that had been left in the middle of the path. The ground under her feet was soft from the damp snow crunching under her boots as she continued forwards toward…. Well, toward _something_ anyways. She didn't care if she ended up in Timbuctoo at this point as long as she got away from that jackass of a vampire.

A noise on her right makes her turn her head to see what it was, a small form hunching over something in a nearby alley. Riley would really like to say that she did the smart thing and ran as far as her legs would allow her to, but she was an idiot with a penchant for rescuing humans.

"You okay down there, dude," she calls out, turning fully to face the alley. The small figure pauses, then goes back to what it was doing, a disgusting squelching sound following the action. "Oh, I'm so gonna regret this later."

She starts down the alley, gripping her necklace tightly in her hand as she steps over old boards and crumbling brick. The thing, as it turns out, is a child that looks to be about ten, leaning protectively over a grown man. Now, it might have been a sweet gesture had the kid not just been sucking the blood pouring out of the man's torn throat.

"I knew I'd regret it." Why couldn't she just listen to common sense for once instead of diving head-first into possible danger? The kid kneeling on the ground snarls at her, his teeth stained red, canines pointed. "You're one of Drac's kids, aren't you?" At the mention of his master, the boy relaxes slightly, his red-rimmed eyes staring up at her curiously.

Riley takes a careful step forward, the mothering instinct in her wanting to wrap him in her arms and make him better. He scrambles backwards clumsily, falling flat on his back when the back of his shoe catches on a pile of rubble. Riley winces, knowing that would've hurt anyone whether they were dead or alive.

"It's okay," she promises, keeping her voice even and calm. "I'm not going to hurt you, kiddo." He holds an arm up as defense, Riley able to make out the slight tremble in his pale hands. He looked even worse than Renfield had, his delicate bones outlined by taunt skin and purple veins standing out against the insides of his wrists. "Come here, let me help you." She kneels a few feet away from him, one hand outstretched with her palm up.

The kid sits up slowly, nostrils flaring as he sniffed the air; he would know that she isn't human, but he might not know exactly what she is. _It's like Ethan all over again, his introduction in this world overwhelming and forced_. The boy was too thin, mousy brown hair ruffled from the harsh winds, nose a bit large for his face, and his lips tinted blue from the cold.

He studies her a moment more, then flings himself forward into her arms, shaking almost violently as she returns his hug. She could smell the decay that marked him as a vampire, an underlying sweetness hinting to the fact that he still had some human blood within him. She gave him a day and a half at the most, the change either turning him completely or forcing him to drown in his own blood.

"I've got you," she whispers into his hair," you're safe now, sweetheart."

 **Was I the only one who thought the little boy from the first ep of season 3 was adorable? Anyway, we get to see Riley as a self-aware character in a horror show in this chap (give her some plaid shirts and she could be a Winchester ;)).**


	6. Taking Shelter & Trading Names

**Excerpt From** _ **The Official Reaper Rulebook**_ **:  
5\. Souls must be weighed by Anubis before they're allowed into the Afterworld.**

It took three miserable hours to make it back to Riley's house, her thighs burning and the kid basically a zombie as he slid his feet forward without seeing anything in front of him. He was surprisingly heavy considering how little he weighed, but they kept going and Riley made sure to have a good grip on him to keep him from collapsing in the snow.

"Can you stand by yourself," she asks him once they make it to her front door. The boy's eyes are glazed over, moving back and forth rapidly like he was caught in REM sleep. With a grunt, she lowers him to the ground so she can open her front door, then she hooks her arms under his and drags him over the threshold. "God, you're really heavy for a half-starved kid."

Grunting under his weight, she heaves him up onto the couch and begins pulling his half-frozen clothes off to prevent hypothermia, though she wasn't sure if half-vampires could actually get that. _Someone should really write a manual for this sort of thing_. Still, he was just a little kid and she would try and help him out the best she could while he was still alive.

Once he was in his underclothes, she runs to her room to collect all of her heaviest blankets before returning to the living room, covering him up to keep him from freezing in her home. That was the last thing she needed right now and there was no logical way to explain such a thing to the elders.

 _Hidy ho, y'all, I've just had a doozy of a day. Here I was, just escaping an egotistical vampire, when I find this half-starved not-quite-a-vampire-yet kid and I brought him home only to have him die on my couch_. Yeah, that just wouldn't work.

Riley moves to the fire place next, stacking up the logs and tender before setting it ablaze with the trusty Zippo she kept on the mantel next to the picture of herself and Took. As the warmth began to spread through the house, she moves into the bathroom and sets the water to running as hot as humans could stand it, adding in a few drops of vanilla-scented essential oils to make sure he smelled less like a homeless person when he got out.

She had her work cut out for her now and she wondered if she'd be able to drag him all the way to Grandage Place without drawing attention to them. Who was she kidding? Of course she was going to draw attention to them, but there was nothing to be done about it now. He was her responsibility and she'd be damned if she left him here to die by himself.

 _But he could survive and be chained to Dracula forever_.

She grimaces at the thought, shutting the water off and moving back to the living room. He was just so frail right now, his bones too pronounced and his skin nearly the color of ash. Even if she did all she could for him, there was always that chance he'd still be dead come morning or he'd be on Dracula's side if he survived. Neither were options she liked, but they were the ones closest to hand.

"If you survive," she states, dragging him with her into the bathroom," then we're having a long talk about not letting strange men bite your neck." Riley manages to get him in the warm water, keeping an arm wrapped securely around his thin chest to avoid death by drowning as she used a sponge to scrub the dirt and grime off of him. She could feel his heart fluttering under her palm, too slow for a vampire yet not as fast as a human, stuck firmly in the middle.

She works diligently, his head cradled against her shoulder as she continued to scrub and clean until the bathwater was a dark gray color from the muck. It's a bit of a challenge to get him out considering how slippery he was, but she managed and dried him off quickly when he started to shiver again.

 _It's a damn good thing I have a little brother_. The thought made her laugh a little, remembering the way Han would bounce around the house like an excited puppy when he was allowed to stay a week or two with her every summer. Because of that, Riley was used to cleaning up messes and also had an entire closet filled with little boy clothes that might even fit the kid she's taken in.

She forces him to stand again, shouldering most of his weight as they moved down the hall together, entering a room painted a pale green color with airplane decals on the walls. The bed was a twin, the covers and sheets both a dark blue plaid, the pillows a paler blue with little trucks stitched into them, and the frame of it was hand-carved dark wood. A Banshee in Ireland had made it just a few years ago, as she had most of Riley's furniture, and she'd gifted it to the Reaper in exchange for a short conversation with her dead grandfather.

The room isn't very large, but Han liked it and that's what really mattered to Riley in the long run. It was definitely a boy's room, the toy chest tucked under the window containing all manner of Lego kits, dinosaur toys, GI Joe action figures, and tons of Hot Wheels cars. The wall next to the closet was took up by a bookcase, each shelf dedicated to something different; shelf one was animals, two was Goosebumps, three was mechanics, four was Reaper lore, and the fifth shelf was entirely Winnie the Pooh.

She pushes aside the firetruck curtain that hung in front of the closet, digging out a worn pair of jeans, a dark gray, long-sleeved top, and a heavy black jacket. With the clothes in hand, she bends down to grab a pair of Converse off the wire shelf meant for Han's shoes before moving back to the bed.

The kid was sound asleep, sprawled out on top of the covers and unaware of what was happening. Careful not to disturb him, she dresses him before covering him up. "It's going to be alright," she promises quietly, brushing a damp lock of dark brown hair off his forehead. Once she was sure he wasn't going to spring into wakefulness and ransack the place, she moved next door to her room.

She packs enough clothes for a week just in case the job took longer than planned, then threw in her pack of knives and her chalk, followed by her makeup and an extra pair of shoes. After a moment of thought, she moves back over to her dresser and rifles through the top drawer until she finds her spare set of glasses and a small case of medicine and syringes. If nothing else, she could at least give the kid some relief if the pain became too much.

She stuffs everything into the duffel and zips it closed before shouldering it and heading back to Han's room. They would have to leave as soon as possible in case Drac recovered sooner than she'd planned, though that wasn't likely. As strong as the guy is, the death of Vanessa had weakened him considerably and he needed every resource he could get his hands on right now. _Hence my unwilling blood donation_.

The kid was looking around when she stepped inside the room, his strange eyes landing on her and sharper than they had been. She wasn't sure what color they used to be, the entire iris covered in a gray film that obscured everything except the pupil.

"How are you feelin'?" He shrugs and doesn't look away from her, like he was trying to decide if she was a threat.

"You saved me," he murmurs after a moment, his shoulders relaxing beneath the thin shirt. "Are you like the angels my mum used to tell me about, Miss?" Riley snorts, dropping the bag on the floor and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Not quite, kid." He nods, lips pursing as he reaches out one cold hand to rest on hers, a finger tracing a design out on her arm. "Do you remember anything?"

"I remember getting shot during a fight and running away in a panic." He winces, his free hand moving to press against his left shoulder. There was no wound there that suggested a gunshot, though she had noticed a tiny scratch when she'd washed him. "A few days later, you turned up when I was feeding." He looks around the room, looking like he'd never seen something so cozy before. "I like this room."

"Well, you're welcome to stay in it after everything is over with." _As long as you promise not to attack me while I sleep_. "Now, I've been calling you That Kid for the past three hours, but I'd really like a real name for you." His lips press together, a dark pink now instead of blue, and he seemed hesitant to tell Riley anything she didn't need to know. "My name's Riley."

"I'm Andrew… Andrew Till, ma'am."

"Ugh, don't call me that, it makes me feel like an old woman." He laughs at her statement, squeezing her hand for a second before resuming his tracing. "Well, Andrew, you and I are going to stay at a new place for the next few days." He makes a face at that and it was Riley's turn to laugh, reaching out her free hand to ruffle his hair. "Think of it as an adventure, 'kay?"

"If I must." She smiles down at him for a moment, remembering the nights she'd spent at her brother's bedside before he was sent to the Academy for training. He'd been a nervous wreck and only her reading him his favorite story would allow him to sleep at night. Andrew was a lot like Han, holding the curiousness only children are capable of, but far too grown for his age. "Will I be safe, Riley?"

She swallows hard, unsure how to answer the question. How the hell could she tell a little boy that there was a huge chance of his body giving out and drowning him in his own blood? What kind of monster would give a kid something so horrible to worry about when they could die very soon? Not her, she couldn't do that to him, so she lied.

"You'll be safe as a King with me, Andrew."


	7. Seeking Advice

**Excerpt From** _ **The Official Reaper Rulebook**_ **:  
12\. A "Dance of Death" is only allowed if the dying person(s) refuse to leave their body after dying.**

Dracula carefully picked himself up off the ground, his head throbbing painfully from the blood he'd consumed three hours ago. It had been a foolish move, he was well aware of that, but humans had become scarce on the streets and Vanessa's death had left him extremely weakened.

A puddle of blood seeped into the rug, the dark blue standing out against the cream-colored threads. He watched it for a moment, waiting for his stomach to cease its churning, and found himself wondering why Reaper blood wasn't red. _Ranger blood is silver and angel blood golden; such strange colors for such strange creatures_. But his blood was as red as Vanessa's had been, and hers was splattered all across the pristine white walls in a chamber of the warehouse.

"Renfield," he croaks, barely managing to lift himself into a nearby chair. The warehouse seemed empty apart from the faint sounds of scurrying mice and a ruined familiar. Renfield was little better than a rat in Dracula's opinion, but he served a purpose and was malleable in his hands. "Renfield!"

"Coming, Master!" The scurrying grew louder and then Dracula could hear the sound of the familiar climbing the stairs on all fours like a dog. He was more beast than man at this point, the virus wreaking havoc in his brain and blood; fever would be making his entire body ache, a horrible pressure building behind his eyes, swollen gums around pointed canines. Dracula has suffered the change himself and had watched his brother endure one so similar and so different.

Lucifer had writhed on the ground for days, wounds splitting open across his pale skin and spilling his golden blood into the dirt. Brands had been raised along his back and chest, horrible marks that were pale pink amongst the gore, and his hair began to fall out in handfuls until he was as smooth as the day he was created by their Father. He spoke in what used to be the High Speech, so very twisted and hissed as body and mind were broken.

By the time the transformation had been completed they were both regretting their rebellion in Heaven. Lucifer, his elder brother that could do no wrong, was cast further beneath the earth to dwell in Hell; forced to spend his days amongst hellfire and the stinking of sulfur. But Lucifer was clever beyond all else, he still had his golden blood and he shared it to his followers until he'd created his own race.

It had been Rangers at first, fierce and holding the rage of their master; deadly like the Archangels and holding none of the mercy. They were meant to be unfeeling creatures that cared only for chaos and destruction of God's most precious humans. And feeding on that power allowed Lucifer to regain a shadow of his former glory, the form of a man with golden hair and a shield of sarcasm to protect him.

And now here he was, still rebelling and feeling as though half of himself has been ripped away with his Queen.

"Did you bring me what I demanded," he asks, voice hoarse as he turns to face Renfield. The familiar nods with a crazed grin, looking like a child eager to show his father what he's done.

"She's downstairs, Master. Waiting for you with such delicious blood in her veins." On shaking legs, Dracula makes his way carefully down the stairs and over to the body slouched against the rusted door of the warehouse. The girl he turned over was young a beautiful, smelling sweet like all humans did if they were not ravished with disease or dying. She couldn't be more than sixteen and she certainly wouldn't be seeing seventeen.

The guise of a gentleman falls away as he sinks his fangs into the girl's neck, warm blood filling his mouth in gushes. He wasn't particularly fond of the taste, too much like copper on his tongue, but it filled his belly and gave him the strength he needed to take his bride back by force.

He doesn't move until she's a drained husk, throwing her body away from him as he stood. Renfield was just behind him, fidgeting with his waistcoat and eyeing the body lustfully. He would need to feed soon or he would be of no use, so Dracula snatched up a fleeing rat and threw it to the familiar.

"Eat," he commands," and then we will reclaim what was taken from me."

The trip to Grandage Place was a lot easier this time around, Riley and Andrew taking their time to ensure he wasn't too exhausted by the time they arrived. The snow drifts have gotten higher during the time they'd spent inside, reaching mid-calf on Riley now. She did her best to ignore the cold, two bags slung over her shoulders and one arm wrapped securely around Andrew's waist.

"Just a little longer," she promised every time they made it a full block, her grip tightening further whenever he stumbled. By the time they made it to the front door of number eight, she was basically supporting all of his weight and her nose was stinging from the constant exposure to the cold wind. "Malcolm, open the damn door!" There was the sound of hurried footsteps and then the door was opened wide by the owner.

"Who's this," he asks, taking Andrew from her so she could straighten up again.

"Andrew Till, I found him in an alley." She kicks the heavy metal door shut behind her once she was in the entryway, dropping her bags to the floor and rubbing at her sore shoulder. "Put him in a guest room with as many blankets you can spare and a bucket in case he gets sick."

"That seems like a lot of trouble for a boy you've just found."

"Yeah, well, pardon me for not wanting to be responsible for the death of a baby." And he was still a baby in her mind, just ten years old with an entire life ahead of him. It wasn't fair that Dracula had used him for feeding, but most of the things Dracula did wasn't fair. Hell, the only reason she'd been able to escape from him was because he was just as hungry as his minions and he didn't have a healthy one around. It's a good thing he gets impatient when he's hungry or Riley would probably be in the cemetery right now with no choice but to resurrect Vanessa.

"Are you alright, Miss Liu?" The genuine concern in his voice gave Riley pause, making her look at him with raised brows. "You look exhausted and you're covered in…. Well, I'm not exactly certain what that blue stuff on your neck is."

"My blood." She kneels on the floor, ignoring his baffled expression as she dug through her bag for a piece of chalk. "Get him to bed and I'll ward your front door." _Better than my own was warded because I don't need another surprise visitation_.

She selects a bright pink piece of chalk, using it to draw the symbols along the bottom of the door; crisscrossing triangles, bits of Latin surrounded by her Reaper Mark, and even a few of the Ranger symbols that she wasn't supposed to know. It really paid off to have a best friend that loved to spite Lucifer sometimes. Once she was done, she stood up and wiped her hands off on the skirt of her dress with little care as to how it dirtied the fabric.

"Uh, would you like to take a bath and wash off your blood?"

"Maybe later, but right now I need to borrow a bowl." She takes off for the kitchen, leaving Malcolm to take care of the boy while she made a quick call. It didn't take her long to find it, snatching up a clean knife and a bowl off one of the counters, slicing open her palm and allowing the blood to flow into the bowl until a few inches of it were full. Her cut healed itself as she closed her hand into a fist, grabbing up a spare rag and tying it around her palm.

It took a moment, but the blood slowly began to bubble and turn silver in places, swirling faster and faster until it was just a blur of colors. Just as the colors twined together, it all stopped and revealed a face staring up at her from the liquid's surface.

"This had better be good," Jas grumbles as she sits up on the couch. She had a plate of barbequed ribs on her lap and her curls done up in a messy bun at the top of her head.

"Oh, I think you'll find it interesting." The Ranger arches a brow at that, gesturing for Riley to explain with a rib in her hand. "Know any surefire ways to keep Dracula from hunting me down like a bloodhound?" Riley waits patiently as the other woman goes stock still, the rib halfway to her mouth.

"What in the hell did you just ask," a man questions, his head popping into frame a moment later. He was a little darker skinned than his little sister, but Flynn and Jas did share a few features. The Took siblings all took after their father in looks, Flynn looking more like him than the twins did. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, I kind of pissed him off a second ago and I'd like some reassurance."

"Right," Jas nods after a bit. She sets her rib back on her plate, but not before some of the barbecue sauce drips down onto her shirt. "Uh…. Strong warding is all I've got. Flynn?" He shrugs and shakes his head, disappearing again. "Use some of the Ranger symbols I taught you— Don't be such a baby, Flynn, she was gonna find out about them eventually!" She delivers a smack to her older brother's shoulder for good measure before meeting Riley's gaze again. "Go over everything twice, it usually makes it more affective since Master and Dracula can't stand each other."

"Yeah, I don't think him and Luci have gotten along at all since their Fall."

"Well, I gotta go help Flynn out with some things since he's leaving in a few hours."

"Tell her no more coffee," Flynn shouts," it's her tenth cup already!" That sparked an argument between the two, Riley shutting down the connection with a fond smile. It was great to see Jas finally relaxed after the death of her son. It had been about five years or so, but Riley knew a loss like that never really dimmed for a mother. _If I lost Han so violently, then I'd probably tear the world apart in my pain_.

Riley quickly empties out the mixture in the bowl and washes it before moving back to the front door, going back over the warding and adding a few more to keep out any supernatural being that wasn't a Reaper or a werewolf. Once it was finished, she shoves the piece of chalk back into her bag and stand up, dusting off her hands with a satisfied smile.

"Oh yeah," she nods," ain't nobody getting through that."


	8. Accidental Discoveries & Forced Selfies

**Excerpt From** _ **The Official Reaper Rulebook**_ **:  
15\. All Reapers must change locations once the sand in their hourglass runs out**.

"Are you telling me that those pretty drawings will keep out all supernatural creatures except for you and me," Ethan asks, gazing at the chalk markings dubiously. "I somehow find that hard to believe, Riley." Riley opened her mouth with the plan to tell him just where he could shove his doubts, but was promptly interrupted by a high squeak and a muffled thud.

"You see," she says smugly. "Believe it or not, I'm not as young as I look, cowboy." She flings the door open, fully intending to give Drac the finger, but the person she finds sprawled out on the ground was entirely unexpected. "Uh-oh, I think I just outed someone as not human."

Catriona Hartdegen was lying there, smoke rising from the singed palms of her black gloves, and a flush in her cheeks. She manages to raise her head, eyes landing first on the two people standing in the doorway and then on the chalk markings at the base of the door.

"Shit," she mumbles, head dropping back to the cobblestones. "I don't suppose there's any chance we can ignore what just happened and go about our business?"

"Not even slightly."

"I figured as much." Riley and Ethan step outside and shut the door behind them, neither of them wanting to raise the alarm just yet since Catriona hadn't offered any harm thus far. And, according to what Riley had been told, Catriona was the reason most of them were still alive after a brutal attack on Grandage Place last week. With a grunt and a wince, Catriona's able sit up, frowning down at her burned palms.

"What are you," Ethan demands gruffly.

"And why do you smell human," Riley adds. Cat was dressed as she usually was, in men's clothing and a long black trench coat, looking like a warrior rather than the demure woman people expected in this age. Riley's eyes narrow as she studies the other woman closer, spotting a pale green leaf tattooed just behind one of Catriona's ears. "Grim's bones," she swears in disbelief," you're one of _them_." Suddenly it all made sense, the reason Catriona wore gloves as often as she could, the hair just long enough to hide her ears, the fine features that were almost Fae by design.

"Please," Catriona starts, breathless," I'm here to help you."

"You're here on a mission just like I am."

"Yes, but it's not what you think. I'm here for Dracula, not Miss Ives." Riley scoffs, clutching at her necklace again. "After all the crimes he's committed against my kind, they sent out the best to track him down and ruin him."

"Hold up," Ethan interjects," what the hell is goin' on? Who is she and why did we all think she was human for the past week and a half?" Sighing in resignation, Catriona stands up and pushes her hair back to reveal the full tattoo; it was pale green and glittered in the sunlight, starting at her hairline at the base of her neck with vines curling around the back of her left ear and small leaves branching off of the vines every few inches.

"I'm part of a race called Kailen, we're warrior Fae who try to protect the humans in our country. Dracula murdered our Princess, among others, a few weeks before he showed up in London and I've been tracking him ever since." Ethan's brows meet his hairline, the color draining from his cheeks as he looks between Riley and Catriona.

"The reason she smells human to us is because all Kailen have a bit of human in them," Riley explains. "Other Fae would smell like fresh-forged metal; not very pleasant, but it's distinctive. It also explains why she and I received that shock when we first touched."

"Yes, Reapers and Fae aren't compatible in most senses."

"It's the DNA, it reacts badly the first few times as a protective measure."

"And she's one of the good guys," Ethan asks, pointing at Catriona while his gaze fell on Riley. The Reaper gives a nod, though she doesn't look happy about it. She'd only met two others of Catriona's kind and the meetings had ended badly after land negotiations went south. "Alright, I s'pose we should get back inside before Dracula decides to make an appearance."

"Oh, wait a second." Riley pulls out her cellphone and drags Ethan closer, trying to snap a picture with him only to have the werewolf step back quickly.

"You do realize we're running out of time, don't you," Catriona asks in amusement.

"I don't care, I'm taking a selfie with a werewolf." Riley elbows Ethan in the side and forces him to stand still so she could get the picture, sticking her tongue out playfully while Ethan just looked unimpressed with the whole thing. "My little brother has decided to study your race and he'll be really excited that I got a picture with one of you." On that note, Riley pulls the door open and holds it for Ethan and Catriona to enter, closing it behind them all and dropping to add Cat to the list of beings able to use the door.

"That's all very intricate. Are those ones Ranger marks?"

"Yeah, I'm the ambassador between Reapers and Rangers." Riley stands again and shoulders her bags before starting for the stairs. "If anyone needs me, I'll be washing all the blood and grime off."

"Is that an invitation?" Riley throws a wink at Catriona over her shoulder as she starts up the stairs, hips swaying.

"I wouldn't throw you out if that's what you're asking."

* * *

Andrew looks up when his bedroom door opens, only relaxing again when he recognizes the woman who'd taken him into her care. She was kind and reminded him of his mother with the way she was constantly trying to make sure he was comfortable.

"Will we be safe here," he asks as she sits on the edge of the bed he'd been deposited in by the old man. "My master can't get us?"

"You'll always be safe with me, Andrew," Riley promises, brushing some off his hair off his forehead. Her hand was blissfully cool as she cups his cheek, Andrew leaning further into her touch in relief. He was just so hot and couldn't get comfortable, like his blood was boiling inside of him.

"What's happenin' to me?"

"You're going through the change. If I'm right, then you'll be a full vampire come tomorrow." His entire body was aching, a pain that went straight to his bones and made his eyes throb. He couldn't even stand the warm glow of the candle beside his bed, having to squeeze his eyes closed and turn his face away from it. "I'm going to protect you, Andrew, no matter what."

"I believe you." And he did, too, because he'd heard stories from Miss Ives about the Reapers, strong and fierce and able to withstand all manner of horrors. If anyone could keep him safe, then it was Riley. "It just hurts so bad." He was close to tears, wishing the pain would just stop so he could breathe easier.

"I know, sweetheart, I know." His clothes were sticking uncomfortably to his body from sweat and he was shivering again like he was cold, he felt as though his head were about to explode at any moment. "Just hold on for a moment." Her hand left his face and the unbearable heat raced back to claim it, burning like when his older brother had held the fire poker too close to Andrew's face.

"Riley?" He could only hear the faint sound of glass and metal, growing worried when she didn't answer. Before he could pry his eyes open again, he felt a pinch inside the crook of his elbow and then her hand back on his cheek. "Will you sing me a lullaby like my mum used to?"

"Of course I will, but you have to try and relax." He does just that, shifting under the blankets until one of his feet hung off the edge of the bed. " _I saw the light fade from the sky, on the wind I heard a sigh_ ," she sang softly, and he felt some of the pain begin to fade. " _As the snowflakes cover my fallen brothers I will say this last goodbye…._ "

And as she sang to him, Andrew fell into a peaceful slumber.

 **"Kailen" literally means Warrior in Gaelic. I thought it'd be fun to put some Faeries in this and to have Catriona be one since we weren't told shit about her except that she's a badass warrior and a Thanatologist.**

 **On another note, the song Riley sings to Andrew is The Last Goodbye by the amazing Billy Boyd.**


	9. The Vanessa Ives Fan Club

**Excerpt From** _ **The Official Reaper Rulebook**_ **:  
19\. Absolutely no quoting the song "Dust in the Wind" when comforting the departed. THAT MEANS YOU, ATË, STOP IT.**

The next night was hard, Riley spending a majority of it at Andrew's side as his body fought to stay alive. He tossed and turned, low growls and snarls torn from his throat as his blood began to change. "Come on," she murmurs, cradling his body in her arms, feeling his every twitch and hearing every sharp intake of breath," stay with me, Andrew."

"It hurts," he whimpers hoarsely, small fingers curling into the soft cotton of Riley's shirt. "I'm being burned alive!" She rocks him gently back and forth, eyes squeezed shut to block out the image of his face scrunched up in agony. She didn't fully know how it must feel to have your own body working against you, she didn't _want_ to know, but she would gladly take on his pain if it were possible.

He lets out another shout, rolling out of her arms and back onto the mattress. Riley quickly latches onto his wrists, pinning them down to keep him from scratching at his face and drawing blood. Andrew's back arches up, the sound of bones cracking under the pressure making her wince, trying to hang on as Andrew tipped his head back and let out an inhuman howl.

And just as quickly as it had all started, he falls to the bed, limp and unbreathing. His hair is darker where it's plastered to his face with sweat, all the color drained from him, and his limbs growing cold under her hands. She holds her breath as she waits, one shaking hand pressed over his heart. There was no beating, no movement of his chest, but there wasn't any blood pouring past his parted lips either.

 _Is he really dead?_ She was just about ready to shake him violently and scream at him to open his eyes when she felt it, a faint tremor beneath her palm, and then it grew slightly quicker and steady.

"That's it," she breathes," atta boy, Andrew." It was a heartbeat, a vampire's heartbeat, but at least his soul was still inside him. _Now open your eyes and show me you're safe._ His fingers twitch against the damp sheets, his head moves against the pillow, and then his eyes were flickering open; the film has disappeared and she can see his eyes are a pale green color, the only sign of his new vampire blood being a crimson ring around the iris.

"I'm alive," he croaks, staring up at her in a pain-induced daze.

"Welcome back, Andrew." He draws in a large breath and releases it slowly, more instinct than an actual need of oxygen, staring around him in slight awe. He would be seeing everything clearer now, in a vivid detail that would boggle him for the first few months of this new half-life.

"I'm hungry."

"I know. Do you think you can walk?" He's silent for a minute, wriggling his toes and stretching his legs before giving a nod. Riley gets up first, helping Andrew to his feet afterwards and keeping a tight hold around his waist in case his legs give out. He was still a bit weak after the change, but he was slowly getting his strength back and was able to walk unassisted by the time they made it into the parlor.

"Look who's back on his feet," Cat exclaims with a wide grin when she spots Andrew. "How're you feeling, sweetheart?" Andrew takes in her clothes and short hair before looking up at Riley, nodding his head at Catriona.

"It's okay," Riley assures him," she's mostly sane."

"If you say so," he murmurs, hiding slightly behind Riley. She smiles down at him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "Do you have any food in this place?" Ethan lets out a snort of laughter, walking over to them and kneeling in front of Andrew. "Ew, you need a bath or somethin'." It's Riley's turn to laugh as Andrew scrunches his nose up, burying his face in her side.

"Honey, that's just how werewolves smell."

"It's like a dog that's been running through mud puddles!"

"Believe me, I know."

"Well," Ethan states with a dry smile," if you can get past the smell, I'm sure I could find you a rare steak or two in the kitchen." Andrew's face brightens and he practically tramples Ethan on the way to the hall, the werewolf chasing after him.

"So," Malcolm says once they're gone," he's changed, then?"

"Yeah," Riley nods, moving to sit on the couch beside Victor," it was brutal, but he survived it. The way I see it, he'll be completely healthy again by tomorrow morning."

"Is that what we really need? Another vampire loose in the world?"

"I'm only going to say this once, Sir Malcolm, so listen closely." She sends him a pointed look, continuing at his impatient nod. "You harm so much as a hair on that kid's head and I'll shove my foot so far up your ass that you'll be tasting boot polish for a month." He narrows his eyes, opening his mouth to say something when Riley cuts him off with a sharp look. "Don't fuck with me right now, boy."

"And how are we supposed to feed him? We can't give him humans to feed on because it'll either kill them or make them like him."

"Raw meat won't keep him full for long either." She runs a hand through her hair, wishing she had a hair tie to keep the thick crap off her face. "Alright, I'll go out and find him a cow or something to feed off of. He'll be my little vampire that could." She makes it all the way to the doorway before she turns to look at the others again. "And here I thought the weirdest part of my week was you guys asking me to bring your dead buddy back to life."

"I'll come with you," Catriona calls, jogging to catch up. "Dracula would happily tear your head off your shoulders, so you should have some backup."

"Admit it, Cat, you just want to look at my ass while I kidnap a cow."

"I'm certainly not complaining." Laughing, the women loop their arms together and head outside, making sure the door was shut firmly behind them before continuing down the stairs. With so much snow on the ground and more still falling, they were basically left to their own devices as the humans stayed safely indoors with roaring fires and blankets to keep warm. "You know, there's a lot of bad things about this time period, but you do have to admit that the architecture is beautiful."

"Yeah, come for the architecture and stay for the creation of the Northwest Angle." Laughing, Cat bumps Riley with her hip playfully. "So, do you get to travel often or…?"

"Not really, I mainly teach other Kailen how to fight properly." She shrugs, but it's easy to see that she's not overly fond of her position. "They sent me to take care of Dracula because I'm the best and because the Princess was my dear friend."

"I'm sorry she's gone."

"As am I, but she always said not to dwell on grief and I don't intend to disappoint her." There was a moment of comfortable silence as they continued down the street, the snow cold against the exposed skin of Riley's legs. She hadn't expected to leave the house so soon after changing and had just thrown on a pair of jean shorts, but now she was regretting the choice of comfort. "So, how do you plan on finding a cow in the middle of London?"

"I was sort of hoping one would just wander aimlessly through the streets."

"That kind of convenience only happens in fairy tales and musicals."

"On the bright side, I know how to break a witch's curse using only blonde hair, a slipper, a cow, and a cape."

"That's handy, but it still doesn't solve our current predicament. Why not just take a bit of blood from the humans inside and I'll heal them? I'm sure Sir Malcolm has plenty of sharpened knives in there."

"I don't like the idea of Andrew getting accustomed to human blood, though." All the same, it might be the only way to feed him since there aren't any cows running wild in the city. He would need warm blood with all the extra protein that comes from living people. "I suppose we don't have much of a choice."

"It's not like it's going to hurt him. There are plenty of vampires in our time that feed off human blood."

"They have blood bank connections, Cat."

"So what? I'll set him up with his own personal account when I go back." Riley arches a brow at that, wondering when Cat decided to pack his bags and bring him with her back to the present time. 2017 is a mess so far and she seriously doubted adding another vampire to the mix would make things better. "Don't give me that look, Ri, I know you're growing attached to him. By the time this little mission is over with and your hour glass in need of turning, you're going to think of him as your son and he'll think of you as his mother."

"I prefer being the drunk aunt that teaches him how break laws in seven different realms."

"Then have a balancing act; teach him how to break laws and then whack him over the head for smoking pot."

" _I_ smoke pot."

"Cool, another thing you and Darren Shan back there will have in common!" Riley scoffs, resting her head against Cat's shoulder. Now that she isn't getting a nasty shock, she was beginning to realize how warm Catriona is and how good she smells. It wasn't just the human scent of vanilla, it was some kind of perfume that reminded Riley of the golden flowers that make up the real Faerie Rings; sweet and a little bit spicy, a warning and an invitation. It was like the Venus Flytrap of smells. "Hey, what's that?"

"What's what?"

"That thing in the park." Riley looks to where Cat's pointing, spotting a large shape on a bench that looked more like a giant blob of snow than anything else. It also gave off a weird vibe, something between life and death that made Riley's instincts flare to life like dry leaves under a magnifying glass.

"It's one of Victor's experiments."

"Victor's? _Our_ Victor, the little guy who looks like he'd blow over in a strong wind?"

"Yeah, he brings dead people back to life in his free time. It'd be interesting if it wasn't so damn aggravating." Riley untangles her arm and starts for the creature on the bench, the pull in her chest letting her know that this creature's soul had been assigned to her the moment he was born. She pushes most of the snow off of him, finding milk-white limbs with ugly scars cutting across his face.

"How'd he die in the first place?"

"Witches caught him on his way home from an insane asylum and tortured him for answers about one of the people he looked after. It was awful and he should have been happy for death, but he wanted his family so much that he held on with all his strength. I barely got his soul back to Anubis before it was yanked away by Victor."

"How horrible."

"Remind me to punch Victor in the throat when we get back."

"Only for payment." Riley pauses with her hand halfway to the creature's shoulder, looking back at Catriona with raised brows. "I'll do it for a kiss."

"No need to make deals, I'd give you the kiss for free." She winks before turning back to the creature, giving his shoulder a light shake. He doesn't react at first, but another shake has him sitting bolt upright with his thick fingers curled around Riley's throat. It was an uncomfortable arrangement to say the least.

"I know you," the creature says once he gets a good look at her face, blackened lips drawn down into a frown. "You appeared when I first died."

"That's sort of her job," Catriona fills in, one hand resting on the hilt of her sword. "Would you like to release her now or would you prefer to lose a hand, Sir?" He seemed confused until he followed Cat's pointed gaze to his hand, letting Riley go with a faint gasp. "Do you have a name?"

"J-John Clare." Massaging her sore throat, Riley gets to her feet with some help from Cat and rests a hand on John's head. "Are you an angel, Miss?"

"Hardly, Mister Clare," Riley says with a wry smile. "I'm just a woman looking for a monster."

"Well, you've certainly done a good job in finding one. If you can kill me, I am yours." The way his yellow eyes shined with self-hatred had Riley wondering what all had happened to the creature since coming back from death.

"Sorry, but we _are_ recruiting at the moment. Tell me, Mister Clare, do you know a Vanessa Ives?" He goes still as he looks up at the women, a thousand thoughts racing through his mind as his expression changes from hatred to utter sorrow. "It's obvious from your expression that you do, so how would you feel about exacting some vengeance on the monster that killed her?"

"I would gladly lay down my life for Miss Ives."

"Welcome to the Vanessa Ives fan club."

 **Happy holidays to anyone celebrating this month!**


	10. The Final Showdown

**Excerpt From** _ **The Official Reaper Rulebook**_ **:  
8\. ****All souls of supernatural beings are to be expected thoroughly before being weighed.**

"Anyway, that's why Grim doesn't allow taffy anywhere near the List of Souls," Riley finished with a shrug, the others looking at her in a mixture of confusion and annoyance. It wasn't a new thing, she got that look a lot whenever she told that story to someone that wasn't a Reaper. Hell, she got that look from a freaking _angel_ , though Todd only had a vague understanding of the Afterworld. "What?"

"All we wanted to know was if you had an idea on how to get Dracula where we need him," Victor states, shaking his head. "And while it's somewhat comforting to know that Grim has some control over your kind, it has nothing to do with our current problem. Now, do you have any sort of plan, Miss Liu?"

"Yeah, I figure I'll show up at the cemetery to do my damn job and y'all can take care of our resident douchebag from there."

"Good and simple," Ethan nods," I like it. His pure hatred of you will draw him there and then I can shoot that tiny heart of his."

"See, the werewolf gets me." Cat scoffs and crosses her arms, leaning back in the chair she'd claimed once they'd returned home with John. "Relax, gorgeous, he's not the one that makes me all hot and bothered." Riley winks at the other woman, grinning broadly when she notices Cat trying to fight off a smile.

"Can I come with you," Andrew asks, looking up at Riley from his spot on the floor. The kid had absolutely refused to take one of the chairs or couches, choosing instead to sit near Riley with his head leaned against her knee. He was really into cuddling, craving a gentle touch, so Riley wasn't about to deprive him of it. "I don't want you to face Master alone."

"She won't be alone, young man," Malcolm promises grimly," Ethan and myself will be there."

"So will I," Cat adds, sending everyone in the room a stern look. "That guy murdered my best friend and I'm going to be there when he's killed no matter what any of you have to say to the contrary." And no one was going to stand up to the badass in a trench coat, the Kailen perfectly capable of taking them all down easily. "Besides, I've got to make sure the Reaper makes it out in one piece."

"You _do_ care," Riley mocks, hand over her heart.

"Enough with the joking," John says. He's standing stiffly as far from everyone as he could get without leaving the room, uncomfortable being anywhere near his maker. "We've got to get everything right in order to get Miss Ives back." That was the real mission, the one that had everyone on edge because they weren't sure Riley could actually come through. "She doesn't deserve this early death."

"No," Malcolm agrees," she's the only family I have left and I can't lose her again. She's fought too long and too hard for _him_ to be her fate." A solemn silence descended on the room, stifling and smothering every ounce of laughter that had been there a moment ago. Riley understood it, could read the grief etched deeply into everyone's hearts and she hated every second of it. Surrounded by death on a daily basis, she longed for the lighter moments. "Where will everyone hide in an empty cemetery that the vampire won't see?"

"I can hide you all," Catriona says quietly. When she tilts her head back, the firelight turns her red hair to copper, the strands all twining together like threads in a tapestry. She was beautiful with her sculpted features and those big brown eyes. "Dracula can't sense Fae magic at the best of times, let alone when he's distracted."

"As for your payment, Riley—"

"Worry about my payment after you've got your kid back," Riley interjects, waving off his concern. "If you're all done with the touchy-feely stuff, can we go stab Dracula in the face? I mean, sure, shoot him through the heart first, but he deserves being stabbed in the face for ruining my breakfast yesterday."

"He ruined your breakfast," Cat asks, brows furrowed when she looks to Riley.

"Yeah, he showed up and I hit him with a frying pan full of tater tots. It was a traumatizing morning." Riley shakes her head at the memory, one hand resting over her growling stomach. She was starving, but food would have to wait until this was done because full moons were the best when doing this type of thing. "Let's get this show on the road so I can come back and eat everything in my fridge."

"Wait, what did Sir Malcolm mean when he mentioned your payment?"

"It's just a thing that's required when a Reaper is called upon to bring a soul back." She shrugs, standing up with a grunt. "It can be anything from twenty bucks to free HBO for a year."

"And in this case?"

"Well, it started out as a puppy, but I've changed my mind since then." Malcolm opens his mouth to protest, but Riley beats him to it. "I'll be bait if that cute girl over there promises to go on a date later." She nods at Cat, a smile playing on her lips as the Faerie grins in return. Flirting was fun, but Riley had an idea that actually dating Cat would be even better.

"Well, I suppose I can make that sacrifice."

"Great, that's settled. We need to go get some stuff from my house and then we can all head over to the cemetery to get this party started." She was going over the list of items in her mind, trying her best to remember the words that would bring Vanessa back to life. It was a rare thing to do since very few people knew about the ritual, so she'd need a refresher course on the way there.

"We'll take my carriage," Malcolm says, standing along with the others. "It'll be much faster than walking with all this snow coming down." They file out the back door and into the small carriage house, John gathering a pair of horses and helping Malcolm to attach them to the carriage while the others piled inside the best they could. Ethan and Victor ended up sitting next to each other on one of the benches while Andrew sat on one of Riley's and Cat's legs opposite the men. It wasn't comfortable by any means, but it was good enough for the time being.

"What all will you need," Ethan asks as the carriage starts moving. "I'll try and help you as best I can if it means getting this done faster."

"A bowl made from the wood of an ash tree, a ceremonial dagger, her ID number, and a leather-bound journal that contains all the rules and rituals for my kind. The hardest part of tonight will be killing Dracula so I can claim his soul. Good luck with that, by the way."

"It seems like I'm gonna need all the luck I can get." He runs his hand over his head, scratching where the hair was beginning to grow longer. He was handsome in a rough sort of way, the type you'd find at campgrounds or hunting deep in the woods. "Is there anything special trick to killin' Dracula?"

"Not really," Cat informs him with a kind smile. "In his human form, and especially in his weakened state, he's not able to move as swiftly as he's used to. We'll think of a way to get him facing you and then you just pull the trigger, Mister Chandler." He nods, staring out one of the windows at the passing buildings. Cat does the same, slim fingers playing with the dark curtain that kept the moonlight out. "It's really coming down now."

"Almost a blizzard," Victor confirms, frowning. "We should bring some blankets with us for Miss Ives. We buried her in a nice dress, but it wasn't very thick."

"Riley will take care of her," Andrew states confidently. "She can take care of anyone. Isn't that right?" He looks at her over his shoulder, his toothy grin soothing some of her nerves.

"I'll certainly do my best," she confirms. They fall quiet, watching as the snow blows in from the north and blankets everything in white. The stuff nearly reached her waist when they finally got to her house and Riley was extremely grateful that she'd traded in her shorts for a pair of jeans. "Careful, Andrew, it's slick." He nods, letting her help him down the step and onto her porch.

"Looks as though someone beat you here," John says, taking in the large crack running up the middle of the front door, the heavy wood almost wrenched completely off its hinges. "Are you sure only you knew the materials needed to bring someone back from death?"

"Dracula might be smart, but not _that_ smart." She moves forward until she was standing just inside the doorway, the smell of cinnamon making her nose crinkle. It was a distinctive scent, belonging to a race that she wasn't too fond of. "Fucking angels always sticking their noses in other people's business."

"Angels? As in…." Ethan trails off, pointing up at the sky with raised brows.

"The very same."

"And you're cursing at them. Aren't you scared of the big guy killin' you?"

"I'm the personification of death, hon, there's not much God can do to me. As for cursing at angels, well, they have it coming." She steps inside with the others following closely behind her, as though scared the angel in question would smite them all. "Todd, get your skinny ass out here!" There was a snap and then Todd was standing in the middle of the living room, blue hair carefully styled and dark stubble covering his cheeks.

"Hey, Ri," Todd greets with a broad grin. "I hear you're trying to bring someone back from the dead."

"Do you angels just sit around gossiping all day while the rest of us do real work?"

"I've been alive since just after the earth was created, gossip is the only thing that keeps me going at this point."

"You're twenty-seven, you idiot." He shrugs her off, smile faltering.

"I just thought I'd swing by and see if it was true or not." Riley doesn't answer, hands on her hips with her narrowed gaze focused on the angel. He was handsome like all angels were—sculpted jawline, slim nose, a pair of clear blue eyes, and full lips to top it off. "Obviously it is."

"If you're gonna try to stop me, then you might as well save your breath. I've been through so much in the past two days that I'm doing this even if it means bringing Grim's wrath down on me."

"Do you know what she is?" He cocks his head to the side, his steady gaze taking in everyone in the room. His power seemed to crackle in the air, like static that made the hairs on her arms stand on end. "Do you know what she's capable of, Riley?"

"I've been told a thing or two. Mother of Evil, vessel for Amunet, and a host of other problems that'll probably come back to bite me in the ass. But you know what? Bringing her back will result in Dracula's death, a _true death_ , Todd. Isn't that worth it?"

"If something happens, then you'll be the one to deal with it. The angels will have nothing to do with this."

"What else is new? You angels haven't gotten off your high horses since God flooded the earth. Now, unless you want to be our distraction, then get out of my house." His lips press together in a fine line, brows furrowed as he glares down at her. A lesser being would have been quaking in their boots, but Riley's known this angel most of her life and she wasn't about to start fearing him now.

"Good luck, Reaper, you're going to need it." And with a flutter of blue wings, he was gone. She lets out a deep breath, relaxing again from the stiff posture she'd taken on.

"Drama queens, the lot of them." She shakes her head, turning to face the others for the first time since entering the house. "A little crash course in angels for y'all, they're dicks and dramatic and should be punched in the face at least one a week to keep their egos in check." All but Cat seemed awestruck, the faerie grinning at the expressions on her friend's faces.

"Shall we get those materials," Cat suggests. "Better late than never after all."

"The notebook's upstairs in the hall closet under a Pokémon blanket."

"I'll grab the blanket for Vanessa while I'm up there." The redhead takes off up the stairs, Riley walking across the hall to the kitchen. The ash wood bowl was stored in the cupboard beneath her sink, the ceremonial dagger resting inside it with the golden hilt glimmering in the lowlight. She grabs it quickly and comes back into the living room, taking Vanessa's ID number from Malcolm and stuffing it in her bra for safe keeping. Cat rejoined them a moment later, notebook in one hand and a thick comforter clutched in the other.

"Alright, let's raise us some dead people."

* * *

The cemetery wasn't a very comforting place even by Riley's standards, the moonlight leaching color out of everything and making the world seem colder than it actually was. She walks quickly towards the tombstone, trying to ignore the driving wind and snow soaking into her jeans. The others weren't far, concealed by Catriona's magic from Riley's sight until Dracula was fully dead.

"What have I got myself into," she mumbles to herself, shaking her head. "Bringing someone back from the dead is one thing, but pissing off Todd? Bad move, girlie, bad move." She shakes her head again, hands trembling from cold as she sets the materials down next to the grave.

"I thought I'd find you here." Riley squares her shoulders as she turns to face Dracula, taking in the hunched form of Renfield not far behind him. The familiar was doubled over, the veins along his throat and temples bulging against the skin and nearly black. Dracula, however, seemed to be in top shape as he stared her down, lips curled in a sneer.

"I made a promise to bring this woman back and I intend to fulfill it." He grabs the back of Renfield's coat and shoves him to the ground at Riley's feet, the familiar letting out a cry of pain. This close, Riley could see the line of blood coming from his ear and left eye, the proof that his body was rejecting the change.

"Take his soul and do your job."

"On second thought, I think I've changed my mind." She kicks the ruined familiar away from her, feeling bones breaking under her boot at the action. "Find yourself a new Reaper to do your dirty work."

"You _will_ do this for me!" His voice was booming, rolling over her like a thunderclap. When she doesn't back down, he lunges forward with a snarl. Gracefully, Riley steps to the side and brings her necklace out in one smooth movement, the necklace extending into a scythe and cutting deeply into his side. The vampire hisses and tumbles to the ground, staying there a moment before standing again.

"I ain't bringin' this poor woman back just to have you corrupt her again. Not after all she's fought for. You want her back, then do it yourself."

"Woman or not, I will kill you if I have to," Dracula snarls, bright red eyes glowing in the dark. He was half transformed, his skin pulled taunt over his cheeks and blackened blood flowing freely from the deep gash Riley's scythe had caused. If she wasn't already in a bad mood, then the fact that this asshole actually thought he could kill her would've set off her temper.

"Bring it, bitch!" He lunges again, managing to grab the scythe this time and yank her to the side sharply, sending her tumbling back against the tombstone. There was a flare of pain where her side connected with the stone, but she stumbles back to her feet. "What's wrong? Afraid to actually hurt me because you know you can't do the ritual by yourself? Where's your backbo—" She cuts herself off when she's forced to swing the scythe again, the razor-sharp blade running across his thighs. Dracula howls in pain, moving faster than Riley could track and delivering a slap that had her flying sideways a few feet.

"Leave her alone!" Riley looks up just as a small form collides with the vampire, knocking him flat on his back with a snarl. "You don't hurt her! _Leave her alone!"_ Andrew was punching wherever he could, newfound strength and the elder vampire's surprise giving him the upper hand for a moment.

"Traitorous brat," Dracula yells, pushing hard against Andrew's chest and sending him to the ground. He stands and grabs Andrew by the throat, holding him up so they were nose-to-nose. "I gave you this second life and you're throwing it away!"

"I didn't ask you to bite me!" Riley sits up and makes a snowball, throwing it as hard as she could at the vampire's head. He tosses Andrew aside and turns to glare at her, teeth bared and canines growing. He was still mostly human, though the bones of his face were sharp against the stretched skin.

"Do you really think you can defeat me with only a child on your side?" Riley gives a tired grin, remaining on the ground with her scythe right beside her. She could see Cat standing on top of a mausoleum, the perfect sightline for an experienced shooter. "Why are you smiling?"

"Because Andrew isn't my only sidekick tonight." A bang echoed in her ears seconds before Dracula lurched forward a step, left shoulder hunched as though he were trying to curl in on himself. He meets her stare again, flecks of gold showing in the crimson irises as he fell to his knees and then slumped forward into the snow. Riley didn't move at first, watching as black fluid made a puddle beneath him.

 _Dracula's finally dead_.


	11. Performing Miracles

**Excerpt From** _ **The Official Reaper Rulebook**_ **:**  
 **7\. Atheists are to be kept at peace in their coffins—** **no** **exceptions.**

Riley crawls forward and rolls Dracula onto his back, searching for any sign of life before letting out a relieved sigh. There was no pulse or heartbeat, the corpse pliable under her hands as she tilted his chin up. His eyes had turned pitch black, looking more like a demon in a Supernatural episode the longer she stared.

"It's done," she calls to the others," he's dead." There's a crunching of snow underfoot and then the group was surrounding her, careful not to get too close as she set to work. The soul was easy to extract, a golden vapor that poured out of his mouth and settled in her hand. She puts it in the bowl before taking up the dagger and opening the journal, flipping through the pages until she finds the one she needs. "I've never actually done this before, so I'm not quite sure what to expect."

"We trust you," Malcolm says, probably not realizing just how comforting those words are. She sucks in a deep breath and holds it as she draws the blade across her palm, letting some of the sapphire blood pour into the bowl with the soul; she uses the dagger to mix it all together, adding a sprinkle of graveyard dirt. The mixture began to bubble, the bowl heating up between her hands as she raises it.

The magic flows out of her as she began reciting the spell, the words tumbling off her tongue in a rush that even she barely understood. Riley spoke them in Chinese, her first language easier than English to her.

" _The night—tho' clear—shall frown—_  
 _And the stars shall not look down,_  
 _From their high thrones in the heaven,_  
 _With light like hope to mortals given—_  
 _But their red orbs, without beam,_  
 _To thy weariness shall seem_  
 _As a burning and a fever_  
 _Which would cling to thee for ever._  
 _The buried, dead, and slain rise again!"_

Riley says the words over and over again, repeating them until the wind was whipping around her like a miniature cyclone and the mixture in the bowl was nearly boiling over. Still repeating the spell, she tips the bowl forward and onto the grave, focusing on the liquid as it soaks through the snow and into the dirt.

"In the name of Grim," she yells over the noise," I command Vanessa Ives' soul be released to reenter her body! In the name of Anubis, I command Vanessa Ives to rise again and walk among the living! In my name, I command Vanessa Ives to live again!" She beats a fist against the earth once and a ball of light shoots out of the ground, driving her backwards.

When she sits up again and the dust clears, a woman is standing in a small crater, her dress settling around her legs once again as the wind died down. She was beautiful, porcelain skin nearly whiter than her dress with black hair that fell across her shoulders in beautiful waves; her eyes were round and blue like sea glass, nose thin and narrow over a pair of pink lips.

There's a moment of silence, like everyone was too shocked to do much more than stare before Ethan and Malcolm surged forward and took her in their arms. Vanessa's eyes widened at the sudden contact, staring around blindly for a moment before what was happening seemed to click into place. She lets out a strangled noise, clutching at the men like they were the only things keeping her grounded.

"Ethan," she chokes out," Malcolm? I don't understand…. How is this possible?" Ethan just hugs her tighter against him, one arm around her waist while his free hand moved over her hair again and again. "Is this a miracle?"

"Something like that," Malcolm says through tears. "The only thing that matters right now is that you're back." Cat and Andrew kneel on either side of Riley, both of them grinning like lunatics as they watch Vanessa climb out of her grave with some help from John. Vanessa still seemed dazed—and who could blame her?—but she was rolling with the situation as best she could.

"Cat?"

"That's right," Cat nods, helping Riley to stand. "You didn't think I'd miss seeing you brought back to life, did you?" Tears gathered in the brunette's eyes, but she held them back valiantly. "Let's get you home."

* * *

It was a week later before Riley and Andrew returned to Grandage Place, the snows finally gone and the weather growing warm as summer approached. Andrew was still adjusting to being a full-fledged vampire, staring around with wide eyes at things he'd never noticed before like the fine lines of a spider's web floating past a familiar metal door.

"You okay," she asks, running her fingers through his dark hair. It was starting to grow longer and shone under the sunlight, rat free and silky from having proper baths now that he lived with her. Like Cat had predicted, Andrew had become stuck to her side and didn't seem to be going anywhere soon.

"I'm great," he says, grinning up at her. It would be maybe a year before he was taller than her, though that wasn't a great feat if she were being honest. He was going through a growth spurt which meant eating her out of house and home and Riley spending long hours trying to adjust Han's clothes to fit the broader boy. "I've never been to a party before."

"You're gonna love it. There's a lot of food to eat and people to annoy."

"And a certain faerie warrior that you like." Riley can feel a deep blush coloring her cheeks at the mention of Cat, sending a suspicious glare in Andrew's direction. "Relax, I already know the agreement. I get all the snacks I want as long as I don't tell Catriona that you actually want to do more than kiss."

"You're a fast learner." With one last smile sent his way, she raises her hand and raps her fist against the door. She could hear a conversation trailing off just inside the hallway and then the door was swinging open to reveal Vanessa and Cat. Now that she'd bathed and had some recovery time, Vanessa looked healthier than the last time Riley had seen her, dressed in a dark plum color that brought out the flecks of green in her eyes.

"I was beginning to think you two weren't coming," she says, stepping aside to let them in. "Thankfully, Cat restored my faith." She sends a teasing smile at the redhead, winking. "Speaking of, I think the two of you have something to discuss." Riley's brows knit together as she tries to think of anything important, drawing a blank. "Come on, Andrew, you and I will have some cake while these two announce their feelings for each other."

"Hey," Andrew says when Riley glares down at him," you said I couldn't tell _Cat_ about that romantic mush, you never said I couldn't tell everyone else." He loops an arm through Vanessa's and leads the way into the kitchen, leaving the two women behind to talk about things Riley would rather not think of. Okay, so she thought about those things more than is probably advised, but could anyone blame her?

"That seems about right," she sighs, kicking the door shut.

"Vanessa's promised that we'll have the sitting room to ourselves for a bit," Cat says, nodding towards the room. "Would you like to take advantage of the quiet?" Riley nods, worrying at her bottom lip as she walks beside Cat into the spacious room. With the fire roaring, it was comfortably warm and Riley's bare legs were thankful.

"So…. _Feelings_ …."

"Feelings," she echoes with a nod. They stand in awkward silence for a few minutes, looking anywhere except at each other until Cat clears her throat. "Why is this so difficult when we've both been alive for centuries?" Riley didn't have an answer for her, never good at relationships that were anything except familial. "Look, I'd really like to spend more time with you besides just making out whenever we can. Would you like to go on another date sometime?"

"I'd love to." Riley gives her a relieved smile, the tightness in her chest easing up when she realized Cat wasn't breaking up with her. "My hour glass is almost full again, so maybe we can hit a steakhouse sometime in the next two weeks."

"That's sounds fun. We can throw peanut shells at homophobes until we get kicked out."

"Wow, that's the perfect date." More comfortable, they settle down on the couch with Riley pressed against Cat's side. The position was so natural to fall into, their bodies fitting together like puzzle pieces as they get cozy. "I'll have to find a babysitter for Andrew, though."

"Get Grim to do it. After all, he's gonna need practice if you plan on officially adopting our little vampire."

"I haven't talked to him about it yet, but I'm hopeful." The truth was simple, Andrew's only remaining family was an older brother that had sold him to Dracula nearly a month ago and he held nothing but ill will towards the human. His parents had died when he was seven, he couldn't remember them much, so it made sense that he was so starved for affection. He's spent the past week sleeping beside her, at least one foot touching her at all times as though he was afraid she'd disappear in a puff of smoke.

"You alright inside that head of yours?" Cat taps a finger against Riley's temple for emphasis, cocking up a brow. "You look panicked."

"Just thinking about all the changes about to happen."

"Well, relax because I'm going to be by your side during all of them. We'll work through everything together and anyone that disagrees can go fly a kite, preferably very close to Cerberus so there's a chance of them being devoured."

"Now _there's_ a comforting thought." She leans her head back, accepting Cat's lips against her own and reveling in the softness of them. The faerie tasted of sugar cookies and chocolate, a wonderful combination that made Riley's head swim as the kiss deepened. She could feel Cat's hand on her knee, thumb brushing the area right below the hem of her jean skirt. She could have lost herself right then and there, but a sound of absolute revulsion made them break apart.

"Save that for your bedroom," Andrew complains, nose scrunching up. Victor was pulling much the same expression, watching them over the rim of his glass. "Why do adults think they have to kiss all the time?" He looked up to the scientist for the answer, Victor offering up a shrug.

"Why do children think they need an entire plate filled with cookies," he returns.

"Because cookies are delicious, Victor. Kissing's just gross." He plops down on the couch, wiggling his way between the two women until he was comfortable. "Maybe some space will make you two act better."

"What if something else happens," Riley asks, sending Cat a wink over his head. The faerie catches on, shifting a little closer. "What if the lack of affection turns us into monsters?" He looks up right as the women strike, their fingers working up and down his sides as he wriggles to get away, laughing hard as they tickle him until all three were sprawled out on the floor.

"Alright, alright, go back to the kissing!" Cat drops a kiss to the top of his head and he shoves her away, quickly rubbing the spot with the sleeve of his coat. "Yuck, not me!" Before Riley could give him the same treatment, Andrew gets to his feet and moves to hide behind Victor.

"He's going to need therapy once he's grown," Victor points out with a smile.

"Isn't that every mother's prerogative," Cat asks," to drive her son mad with her affection?"

"I suppose it could be worse. Come on, Andrew, let's get you to the dining room before you trod any more cookies into Sir Malcolm's rug." The man leads the child out of the room, Cat and Riley not far behind him. It would be time to eat soon and they may as well find some good seats at the table. Deciding to give poor Andrew a break, Riley picks a chair next to John and lets the little boy sit between Ethan and Victor at the other end of the table.

"What's up, big guy," Riley greets, patting his shoulder. He was still as pale as he was the first time she saw him, but there was a happiness growing in him that made him look more alive.

"I…. Don't know how to answer that," he replies with a slight shake of his head.

"How are things going for you?"

"Oh, then I guess things are no worse than usual." She nods, taking a long pull of the wine John pours for her. Booze was definitely something she'd earned and she'd punch anyone that argued otherwise.

The dinner passed with good-natured conversation and teasing, the wine and brandy flowing freely well into the night. Turns out certain faerie warriors couldn't hold their liquor, so it only took a bottle of Malcolm's finest scotch to knock her out for the night.

"Yes, Shelley's good," Riley was saying as she hefted her girlfriend up and off the couch," but keep an eye out for a man named Poe. He won't be popular at first, but you'll fall in love with his stories and poems, big guy."

"Filled with all sorts of melancholy," John asks, a not-smile curling at one corner of his lips. "A troubled mind seeking respite and receiving none?"

"You hit the nail in the head." He makes a low sound, contemplative almost as he looks down at the book Victor had let him borrow. It was a thick tome filled with all sorts of flowery poetry from Wordsworth. Riley wasn't a big fan of the romantic stuff, she preferred a darker edge to the things she reads, the reality of tortured minds and grief.

"Clare may be to your tastes, Miss Liu."

"Maybe I'll check him out and send you some notes." _I'm not drunk enough to discuss poetry with Frankenstein's monster_. And yet here she is, doing that very thing with a Kailen fae drooling on her shoulder. "If y'all need anything in the future, just recite the spell I left with Vanessa and I'll come running. Well, maybe not _running_ , but I'll definitely be jogging."

"Thank you so much," Vanessa says, stepping forward to capture her in a hug. "I can't begin to repay you for all you've gone through just to bring me back to my family."

"Repay me by not dying again until you're at least eighty." Vanessa pulls away with a smile, wrapping her arms around Ethan's waist. They made a beautiful couple, him all rough edges and her making up the softer side, though no less sharp. A perfect match if Riley's ever saw one, sure to have a difficult life, though it'll be filled with all kinds of love and adventure. _The family that hunts monsters together, stays together_. "Stay safe, y'all."

"Tell that blue-haired angel thank you for being so kind to me while I was dead." Riley and Andrew pause halfway to the front door, the Reaper looking back to Vanessa over her shoulder. "He gave me the grand tour of my private heaven and let me peek down at you all from time to time. He said he was breaking all kinds of rules, but that he'd figure it all out later on."

"Yeah, that sounds like Todd."

" **The night—tho' clear—shall frown—  
And the stars shall not look down,  
From their high thrones in the heaven,  
With light like hope to mortals given—  
But their red orbs, without beam,  
To thy weariness shall seem  
As a burning and a fever  
Which would cling to thee for ever." Spirits of the Dead, Edgar Allan Poe**

" **The buried, dead, and slain rise again!" Beetlejuice**


	12. Jasmine Took, Ranger Extraordinaire

**Excerpt From** _ **The Official Reaper Rulebook**_ **:**  
 **9\. At least four Reapers must be ready to respond in the event of plague or biblical event.**

Andrew makes a sound of disgust as he comes back into the living room, Cat and Riley pulling away slowly in order to glance up at him. The eleven year old looked horrified at catching his moms kissing on the couch and he purposefully dropped down into the armchair farthest from them.

"What's wrong," Riley asks with a laugh.

"I'm gonna be traumatized by the time I'm twelve if you two keep making out all over the house," he grumbles, tearing open the box of Cheez-its like it was personally responsible for what he'd just seen. Riley laughs again, snuggling closer to her girlfriend as the movie started playing.

"You don't know trauma until you walk in on Anubis professing his undying love to a Zac Efron poster in nothing but his boxers." He shudders this time around and even gives a fake gag to show his disgust. Riley looks over at Cat, nodding in their son's direction. "He gets the dramatic streak form you, you know."

"Like hell he does," Cat remarks, flicking at Riley's shoulder. "That's all your influence." Riley was just about to point out that Reapers were anything except dramatic when she felt a strange pulling sensation in her chest, like she was being summoned. But that couldn't be right, the only person that would summon her this way was Jas and Riley had felt her death not too long ago.

That fact doesn't seem able to halt the summoning, the Reaper carried away in a bright flash of light. When she opens her eyes again, she's standing in the middle of a cabin with the scent of pine hanging heavy in the air. It took about five seconds for Riley to realize what had happened, looking around the tiny cabin with a bit of confusion until her gaze landed on the black woman a few feet away.

"Gisborne," the woman says with a smug grin," meet Riley Liu." Riley's face breaks out into a grin and she lunges forward, wrapping her best friend up in a tight hug with a squeal of excitement.

"You're not dead!"

"Uh, no, not the last time I checked." Riley pulls back just enough to look her friend over, checking for any fatal wounds and finding none. "Why exactly would you think I was dead, Ri?"

"Who's this?" She was looking at the tall, brooding man a few feet away from them, dressed in a pair of black breeches and nothing else. His entire body practically screamed Greek god, all chiseled muscles and perfect cheekbones, blue eyes so pale they could almost be gray in the dim lighting. He had black hair that was straight as a pin and brushed his broad shoulders, a few strands stuck in the light stubble covering his cheeks. "Is he single?"

"No, now why'd you think I was dead?"

"Hi, I'm Riley." She holds out her hand expectantly, wiggling her fingers until the man took the hint and shook her hand.

" _Riley Liu, I demand to be told why you thought I was dead!_ " Riley jumps back in surprise, her head snapping in Jas's direction. The other woman was pissed off, her eyes bright and hands clenched into tight fists that made her knuckles go white.

"It was just a bad feeling, that's all." Riley shrugs, patting her stomach where the feeling had been. "You know, the stabby kind of feeling I only get when someone close to me has been…. Well, stabbed." She narrows her eyes at the Ranger, who carefully avoided Riley's gaze. "You were stabbed, weren't you?"

"Twice," the man comments.

"Betrayal," Jas shouts, though her anger had pretty much burned away.

"Consider it payback for getting that baby." Riley sends Jas a look, clearly conveying the thought of _you stole a fucking baby?_ Jas waves the look off and shakes her head, the gesture familiar from the time she'd done the exact same thing after stealing a lion cub from the local zoo.

"It's a long story, but the point is that we need your help finding out who killed a couple of people in Sherwood."

"Can you really do that, Miss Liu?"

"Yeah," Riley nods," easy-peasy. Who is this guy?"

"I am Sir Guy of Gisborne." He puffed his chest out like some kind of comic book superhero, the only thing missing being bright blue tights. "Lord of Locksley, Second-in-Command of Sheriff Vaisey, and the husband of Took." Riley's dark eyes widen a fraction and she looks to her friend again, Jas pointing at her as a smile starts to form on Riley's face.

"No more hugs," Jas states warningly," I'm all hugged out for the day." Riley didn't even hesitate, turning and dragging Guy into a fierce hug. He went rigid, arms outstretched to keep from touching her himself.

"Uh…. Took?"

"Just let her do it, she'll stop soon enough." Riley lets out a happy hum, giving one more squeeze before stepping away from him. He slowly lowers his arms back to his sides, though the look he shoots her suggests that she's not to be trusted. She understood, not a lot of people liked unexpected huggers. "So, Gilly's gonna take you out to the sight and I'll be here with little Arya."

"Gilly," she asks with raised brows. Jas points at Guy and Riley makes a noise of understanding. Her own nickname had been Nikita 2.0 for the first three years she knew Jas. Actually, Jas hadn't known her name for those three years and, to be fair, Riley had been killing a lot of people during that time frame since it was during the War of Bones. During that time, the Reapers and Rangers had banded together to bring down a rogue Reaper who'd gotten ahold of Grim's scythe and rose to power with several Reapers under his control. It had been dark and bloody, but they'd come out on top and Riley had been picked to be the ambassador for the Reapers while Jas had volunteered for the Rangers, finally accepting that she would never hold her son in her arms again.

"You're thinking about it again," Jas murmurs, freeing Riley from the tangled thoughts of the war. "Tobias can't hurt anyone else, Ri."

"I know," Riley says, voice smaller than it's been in a long time. "I can't help it sometimes." Jas nods, wrapping her arms around herself and hunching her shoulders as her own memories started to consume her. Before she could be dragged down, Guy wrapped his arms around her with one hand on the back of her head; Jas practically melted against him and Riley felt happiness warming her at the thought of the tough, sarcastic Ranger finally having someone to understand her.

"Alright, you two need to head out so you can be back before dark." Guy presses a kiss to her forehead before moving into the bedroom. "How's your brother?"

"He's a spoiled brat, but he's making good grades in the Academy." And she couldn't help her grin, the thought of her baby brother enough to make her forget the war and remember Han's bright smile. "He asked me just yesterday when he could see his weird buddy with the funny hair." Jas snorts, managing a smile of her own.

"Yeah, I miss that little geek, too."

"When all of this is over, you should come and stay with us for a week or so. We could play poker with Anubis again."

"Only if he promises not to sing Stick to the Status Quo again." There were a select few things that were permanently etched into her retinas, but the main one revolved around the jackal god dancing around in a pair of boxers that had little ducks printed on them, singing along to the High School Musical soundtrack like a teenaged girl. Riley and Jas both shudder at that particular memory, Riley wondering why no one has invented bleach for the eyes yet.

Gisborne comes out of the room a moment later, wearing leather…. Well, _everything_. The man was basically a walking leather commercial all on his own and Riley had to wonder why anyone would want to wear it when it chafed something awful.

"Alright," she shrugs," looks like we're ready to get this road on the show."

"Good to know you're still a dork." But Jas was smiling and so was Riley, bumping the Ranger with her hip before turning and walking straight out the front door of the cabin. She was walking for a good two minutes before she realized she had no damn idea where she was going. A bit sheepish, she turns to look at Gisborne over her shoulder, the other man watching her in amused silence.

"Walk this way," he tells her, starting off to the right into the woods. Riley does as best as she can, trying to mimic the way he held himself and his long strides. He just arches a brow at her antics, rolling his eyes when she gives him a shit-eating grin. "Wonderful, I've got another smartass to deal with."

"I'm an acquired taste," she affirms proudly.


End file.
